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A Treatise on Wisdom 



PIERRE CHARRON 



PARAPHRASED BY 

MYRTILLA H. N. DALY 

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 

JV\RCUS BENJAMIN 



La -vraie science et le vrai eUide de rho-mme, c'est rhomme. 

Charron, "De la Saoresse," Lib. 2, Ch. 2, 2602. 



G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 

NEW YORK LONDON 

*7 West Twenty-third St. 27 King William St., Strand 

Ube Tftnicftcrbocfecc press 

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Copyright, 1891 

BY 

MYRTILLA H. N. DALY 



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Electrotyped, Printed, and Bound by 
G. P. Putnam's Sons 



IN MEMORIAM 
M. N. D, 



PREFATORY NOTE. 

The interest in the works of Pierre 
Charron, of which this paraphrase 
is an outcome, was first awakened 
by the tribute Buckle pays to him 
in his *' History of Civilization.'* 
The strong desire to learn more of 
this priest and philosopher, " who/' 
says Buckle, " rose to an elevation 
which to Montaigne would have 
been inaccessible/' led to an effort 
to secure a copy of his " Treatise 
on Wisdom," and after a long search 
a quaint and rare translation, made 
by Samson Lennard early in the 
seventeenth century, was found in 
London, upon which the present 
volume has been based. 



vi Prefatory Note. 

Having become a true admirer of 
this great author, I have tried in 
this enchiridion to faithfully preserve 
the expression of his views without 
the wearisome repetitions of a more 
leisurely age ; to give the crystallized 
thought without its massive setting, 
feeling sure that a convenient form 
of this, his most celebrated work, is 
all that is needed to win for him a 
new recognition. The following ex- 
tract from the *' Memoirs of the 
Countess de Genlis *' is of peculiar 
interest : 

" Some days before his departure, 
M. de Talleyrand asked me what 
orders I had for Paris, when I re- 
quested him to send me the work 
called * La Sagesse de Charron/ 
Next morning I received a charming 
note from him, with the book I was 
desirous of, most elegantly bound, 
and of an Elzevir edition. 



Prefatory Note, vii 

*' It happened accidentally that he 
had this very book, which he kept 
at the sale of his fine library in Lon- 
don, and took always along with 
him, as he was very fond of it/' 

M. H. N. D. 



INTRODUCTION. 

This book requires no apology 
for its existence, and hence no pref- 
ace is necessary. The only complete 
life of its distinguished author is in 
French, and is not readily accessible ; 
therefore, by way of introduction, a 
brief sketch of Pierre Charron's ca- 
reer is given in the belief that some 
interest will be attached to the rec- 
ord of one who has been permitted 
to remain for so long a time in com- 
parative obscurity. 

Pierre Charron was the son of an 
humble bookseller, and was born in 
Paris in 1541. Of his childhood we 
know nothing beyond that his father 



X Introduction. 

is credited with the paternity of 
twenty-five children, and therefore 
we assume that his playmates were 
largely members of his own family. 
Young Charron must have inherited 
some literary taste, for he chose a 
scholastic career, and in lieu of turn- 
ing his attention to business appears 
to have studied law in Orleans. He 
completed his studies in Bourges, 
where he took the doctor's degree, 
and settled there in the practice of 
his profession as a lawyer. 

Six years of legal experience con- 
vinced him that he had made a mis- 
take, and he then took holy orders. 
The Bishop of Bazas, Arnaud de 
Pontac, assigned him certain mis- 
sions in Gascony and Languedoc, 
where his success was such that he 
became lecturer on divinity in Agen, 
Bordeaux, Cahors, and Condom, and 
his remarkable eloquence as a preach- 
er resulted in his appointment as 



Introduction. xi 

chaplain to Queen Margaret of Va- 
lois, the wife of Henri Quatre. 

Notwithstanding the reputation 
that he had acquired as a brilliant 
orator, and the opportunities now 
afforded him for advancement, he 
relinquished his appointment, and in 
1588 returned to Paris in order to 
become a monk in fulfilment of an 
early vow he had made. Besides, 
the quiet life in a monastery would 
give him the time which he desired to 
devote to philosophical speculations. 
But his age, being upward of forty- 
five, proved a barrier to his desires. 

Refused for the above reason by 
the Order of Chartreuse, and then 
by the Celestins, he returned to 
preaching, first at Angers, and then 
at Bordeaux. It was here that he 
met Montaigne, who at this time 
held public office, and their acquaint- 
ance soon ripened into a deep friend- 
ship, which continued until the death 



xii Introduction. 

of Montaigne. The latter dying in 
the arms of Charron, begged him to 
assume henceforth his family coat- 
of-arms, and later Charron in his will 
bequeathed all his property to the 
brother-in-law of Montaigne. 

Charron died suddenly of apo- 
plexy in Paris on the i6th of No- 
vember, 1603. 

We have seen how he changed in 
his tastes and in his ideas, — first a 
lawyer, then a theologian, then as- 
piring to be a monk, and finally 
devoting himself exclusively to philo- 
sophical studies. His works show 
by their dates of publication a chro- 
nological history of the changes in 
his mental development. 

His first work, *' Traits des Trois 
V^rit^s,'' was published in 1594. In 
it he strove to show, notwithstanding 
the claim of the atheist, that there 
was a religion ; in opposition to the 
heathen, the Jews, and others, that 



Introduction. xiii 

of all religions the Christian was the 
only true one ; and demonstrating to 
the unbeliever that there was nothing 
but what was good in the Catholic 
Church. 

In the following year he published 
his " Traite de la Sagesse/' a work 
which was purely philosophical, and 
showed the influence of his friend 
Montaigne. In it the spirit of the 
free-thinker, rather than that of the 
theologian, is apparent, and so many 
of its passages contained unorthodox 
thoughts that Charron became the 
victim of violent attacks by his con- 
temporaries. Notwithstanding his 
correction of several chapters, not- 
withstanding his publication in 1600 
of the *' Refutation des Heretiques '* 
with certain of his sermons on the 
divinity, the creation, the redemp- 
tion, and the eucharist ; notwith- 
standing his sudden death, which 
should have disarmed his enemies, 



xiv Introduction. 



he and his book were bitterly pur 
sued by the state authorities and the 
Jesuits. The Jesuit Father Gavasse 
called Charron le patriarche des es- 
prits fort, and insisted that he was 
an atheist. 

After the death of Charron, the 
authorities in connection with the 
theological faculty undertook to 
suppress the ** Traits de la Sagesse/' 
but the President — Jeannin — charged 
by the Chancellor to revise it, made 
such corrections that a new edition 
was printed in 1604, with a life of 
the author. This is the most cele- 
brated of his works, and to it Charron 
owes his place in the history of 
modern philosophy. 

Buckle refers to it and says in it 
*^ we find, for the first time, an at- 
tempt made in a modern language 
to construct a system of morals 
without the aid of theology.'' Else- 
where he continues : *^ Taking his 



1 



Introdtictton. xv 

stand, as it were, on the summit of 
knowledge, he boldly attempts to 
enumerate the elements of wisdom, 
and the conditions under which those 
elements will work. In the scheme 
which he thus constructs he entirely 
omits theological dogmas, and he 
treats with undissembled scorn many 
of those conclusions which the people 
had hitherto universally received. 
He reminds his countrymen that 
their religion is the accidental result 
of their birth and education, and 
that if they had been born in a 
Mohammedan country they would 
have been as firm believers in Mo- 
hammedanism as they then were in 
Christianity. From this considera- 
tion, he insists on the absurdity of 
their troubling themselves about the 
variety of creeds, seeing that such 
variety is the result of circumstances 
over which they have no control. 
Also it is to be observed that each 



xvi Introduction, 

of these different religions declares 
itself to be the true one ; and all of 
them are equally based upon super- 
natural pretensions, such as mys- 
teries, miracles, prophets, and the 
like. It is because men forget these 
things, that they are the slaves of 
that confidence which is the great 
obstacle to all real knowledge, and 
which can only be removed by tak- 
ing such a large and comprehensive 
view as will show us how all nations 
cling with equal zeal to the tenets in 
which they have been educated. 
And, says Charron, if we look a 
little deeper, we shall see that each 
of the great religions is built upon 
that which preceded it. Thus the 
religion of the Jews is founded upon 
that of the Egyptians ; Christianity 
is the result of Judaism ; and, from 
these two last, there has naturally 
sprung Mohammedanism. We, 
therefore, adds this great writer, 



I 



Introduction. xvii 

should rise above the pretensions of 
hostile sects; and, without being ter- 
rified by the fear of future punish- 
ment, or allured by the hope of 
future happiness, we should be con- 
tent with such practical religion as 
consists in performing the duties of 
life ; and, uncontrolled by the dog- 
mas of any particular creed, we 
should strive to make the soul retire 
inward upon itself, and by the efforts 
of its own contemplation admire the 
ineffable grandeur of the Being of 
beings, the supreme cause of all 
created things/* 

Charron was the first writer in a 
modern language to point out the 
doctrine of religious development. 
Indeed the germ of very many of 
the advanced thoughts now recog- 
nized in our modern theology can 
be distinctly traced back to his writ- 
ings. The naturalism which was 
subsequently advanced by Holbach 



xviii Introduction. 

and Rousseau is found in the ^^ Traits 
de la Sagesse/* 

In the hope that there may be 
those who desire to know something 
more of the writings of this author, 
whose ideas were so far ahead of his 
time that he was called ** an ad- 
vanced thinker/* this collection of 
his sentiments has been prepared. 
Marcus Benjamin. 

New York, 

July I, 1891. 



^ 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 

It is necessary in the beginning of 
this work to know what wisdom is. 
At the first view of the simple word 
some have imagined it to be a qual- 
ity not common, but exclusive and 
elevated above that which is ordi- 
nary, be it good or evil, for it is used 
in both senses. We say a wise 
tyrant and thief as well as a wise 
king and pilot. Opposed to Wis- 
dom there is not only folly, which 
is an irregularity of life, but common 
baseness and plebeian simplicity. 
Wisdom is strong, well proportioned, 
a regulation of life, sufificient for 
whatever is required and necessary. 



XX Author s Preface. 

There are but few wise men, 
valuable as all rare things are, and 
it pertains to them by right to com- 
mand and govern others. There are 
three kinds of Wisdom, Divine, 
Human, and Worldly. 

Of worldly wisdom we will not 
speak, except to condemn it. Its 
great leaders are Opulence, Pleasure, 
Avarice, Luxury, and Ambition. 
It is censured by philosophers and 
theologists, and pronounced folly 
before God. 

Divine wisdom, the highest, is 
defined and discussed by philoso- 
phers and theologists, but differently. 
The philosophers make it speculative, 
saying that it is the knowledge of 
principles and causes, and the high- 
est power to judge of all things, 
even of God Himself ; and this wis- 
dom is metaphysical and dwells 
wholly in the understanding, as be- 
ing its chief good and perfection ; 



Author s Preface. xxi 

it IS the first and highest of the in- 
tellectual virtues, which may be 
without either honesty, action, or 
other moral virtue. The theolo- 
gists do not make it speculative, 
but practical, and contend that it is 
the knowledge of divine things, from 
which proceeds a judgment and rule 
of human actions, and they make it 
twofold : that acquired by study, 
and like the philosopher's ; and that 
infused and given by God — ^^ com- 
ing from above, a gift of the Holy 
Ghost/' The Spirit of God is the 
Spirit of Wisdom, which is found 
only in those who are just and free 
from sin. It is not our purpose to 
speak of divine wisdom here. 

Of human wisdom, of which this 
book treats, the descriptions are 
various and insufficient ; some think 
that it is only discretion, and advised 
conduct in man's affairs and conver- 
sation. This IS a most ordinary de- 



xxii Author s Preface, 

scription, respecting nothing but that 
which is outward and in action, alto- 
gether in the eyes and ears of men, 
with little regard for the inward 
motions of the mind, and according 
to which wisdom may be without 
essential piety or probity. 

Others think it is a rude, unrea- 
sonable austerity in opinions, man- 
ners, words, and actions, and call 
those who possess it philosophers, 
using the word falsely, and meaning 
visionaries who refuse to be governed 
by custom. 

Now this kind of wisdom, accord- 
ing to our view, is folly, for the 
wisdom of which we speak is not of 
the ignorant, but of philosophers 
and theologists. Both have written 
of it in their moral essays ; the 
philosophers more fully, because 
they apply themselves to that which 
concerns nature and action, teaching 
pleasingly and graciously that which 



Author s Preface, xxiii 

IS good and profitable. The theolo- 
gists mount higher, filled with the 
desire for divine wisdom, and look- 
ing principally to the eternal good 
and salvation of mankind, but teach- 
ing with more austerity. The phi- 
losophers have also shown excellence 
not only in their writings but in their 
honorable and heroic lives. For these 
reasons in this book I ordinarily fol- 
low their advice and sayings, not 
rejecting those of the theologists, 
for in substance they agree. 

If I had undertaken to instruct 
the cloister I must necessarily have 
followed the advice of the theolo- 
gists ; but our book is intended for 
daily life, and to form a man for the 
world, and instruct him in human 
wisdom which is of law and reason ; 
a noble composition of the entire 
man, his thoughts, words, and ac- 
tions. That work is well done which 
is complete and perfect in all its 



xxiv Author s Preface. 

parts, and that man is accounted 
wise who best knows how to keep 
himself from vice, errors, and pas- 
sion ; who considers and judges all 
things without prejudice, and rules 
himself according to reason, law, and 
the light inspired by God, which 
shines in us. He who is without 
knowledge of himself and subjects 
his mind to any kind of servitude is 
not wise. 

If wisdom could be seen with our 
bodily eyes there would be stirred 
within us a strong desire to possess it. 

The two principal means to attain 
wisdom are the natural and the ac- 
quired. He who is fortunate in the 
first, being favorably formed by 
nature, has the advantage. But he 
who is not so gifted must study to 
supply that which is wanting. Soc- 
rates said of himself, that by the 
study of philosophy he had corrected 
and reformed his natural defects. 



Author s Preface. xxv 

We must examine and respect the 
ancient writers, though without en- 
slaving ourselves ; for it is an unjust 
tyranny, and folly, to enthrall our 
minds to believe and follow all our 
predecessors have said ; and none 
but fools thus suffer themselves to 
be led by the nose ; and if a man 
would follow them, how shall he ? 
For they do not agree among them- 
selves. Aristotle, who seems to be 
the most self-satisfied of the philoso- 
phers, dared to challenge and censure 
all who went before him, yet he has 
uttered more gross absurdities than 
any of them ; witness his *^ Treatise 
on the Soul of Man/* 

It is no cause for wonder that all 
men are not of one opinion, there is 
nothing more befitting nature and 
the spirit of man than that they 
should differ. 

That wise divine, St. Paul, gives 
us this Hberty, in that he willeth 



xxvi Author s Preface. 

" every man should abound in his 
own understanding," not judging 
or condemning those who think 
otherwise. 

Pierre Charron. 



CONTENTS. 





PAGE 


WISDOM 


I 


FIRST CONSIDERATION OF MAN . 


3 


THE SOUL 


8 


THE SENSES 


i6 


THE SPIRIT . . . . 


20 


THE PASSIONS 


. 24 


LOVE 


25 


AMBITION 


25 


COVETOUSNESS ... 


29 


POVERTY AND RICHES 


30 


THE ESTIMATION OF LIFE . 


43 


COMPARISONS OF LIFE 


48 


SOME OF man's natural QUALITIES . 


50 


INCONSTANCY 


55 


MISERY 


57 


PRESUMPTION . . - . . . 


60 


THE DIFFERENCE IN MEN . . . . 


66 


MARRIAGE 


69 


PARENTS AND CHILDREN . . . . 


73 


xxvii 





XXVI 11 



Contents. 



THE BODY .... 

MANNERS 

MASTERS AND SERVANTS . 
THE NECESSITIES OF THE STATE 

WARS 

LAWYERS, DOCTORS, TEACHERS 
THE VULGAR SORT . 

NOBILITY 

HONOR 

SCIENCE OR LEARNING 

DESIRING WISDOM . 

LIBERTY OF SPIRIT AND JUDGMENT 

UNIVERSALITY OF SPIRIT . 

LAWS AND CUSTOMS . 

HONESTY 

PIETY 

REPENTANCE .... 

TO GOVERN DESIRES AND PLEASURES 

CONSIDERATION OF OTHERS 

MAN*S OWN AFFAIRS . 

TO BE READY FOR DEATH . 

TRANQUILLITY OF THE SPIRIT . 

MORAL VIRTUES 

JUSTICE . . , , 



Contents. 



XXIX 













PAGE 


LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP 








172 


FIDELITY . 










177 


FLATTERY 










179 


LYING 










180 


BENEFITS . 










181 


DUTY 
VALOR 










188 
189 


FORTITUDE 










192 


PUBLIC REPROACH 










195 


REVENGE . 










196 



A TREATISE ON WISDOM. 

WISDOM. 

The most excellent and divine 
counsel, the best and most profitable 
of all advice, but that least followed, 
is to study and learn how to know 
ourselves. This is the foundation of 
wisdom and the highway to what- 
ever is good ; and there is no folly 
compared to this, to be anxious to 
know all things rather than ourselves. 
For the true science and true study 
of man, is man. 

By the knowledge of himself man 
arrives sooner and better at the 
knowledge of God than by any other 
means, because he finds in himself 
better help, more marks of the divine 
nature than he can know in any other 
way, and he can better understand 
I 



2 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

and know that which is in himself 
than in another. 

Over the porch of the temple of 
Apollo, the god of knowledge and 
light, was engraven in letters of 
gold this sentence : *' Know thyself," 
as a salutation and admonition to 
all, signifying that he who would 
have access to that divinity, and 
entrance into the temple, must first 
know himself, and could not other- 
wise be admitted. 

With the knowledge of self, we 
would provide far better for our- 
selves and our affairs, and fit ourselves 
to be other than we are. He that 
knows not his own infirmities takes 
no care to amend them ; he that is 
ignorant of his own wants takes 
little care to provide for them ; he 
that feels not his own vices and 
miseries seeks for no remedy. 

Socrates was accounted the wisest 
man of his age, not because his 



First Consideration of Man. 3 

knowledge was greater than others, 
but because his knowledge of himself 
was better ; for being a man as others 
were, weak and miserable, he knew 
it, and ingenuously acknowledged 
his condition, and lived and governed 
himself accordingly. 

The knowledge of ourselves is not 
obtained from another, or by com- 
parison, rule, or example, but is 
acquired only by a true and daily 
study, a serious and attentive ex- 
amination, not only of our words 
and actions, but of our most secret 
thoughts. 

THE FIRST CONSIDERATION OF MAN. 

We will consider God's supernatu- 
ral creation, according to the descrip- 
tion which Moses gives of the creation 
of the world;, the boldest and richest 
piece of work ever brought to light. 
I mean the first nine chapters of 
Genesis: Man was made by God, 



4 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

not only after all other creatures, as 
the most perfect, but master and 
superintendent of all ; '* that he 
might rule over the fish of the sea, 
the fowls of the air, and the beasts of 
the earth." On the same day wherein 
the four-footed beasts were created, 
including those two which most re- 
semble man, — the swine inwardly 
and the ape outwardly, — after all 
was ended, as the closing seal and 
sign of His work, and in a word, as 
the accomplishment and perfection 
of the work, the honor and miracle 
of nature, God made man with de- 
liberation, counsel, and preparation. 
He said : " Let us make man in our 
image, according to our likeness/' 
He then rested ; and this rest was 
also made for man. ** The Sabbath 
was made for man, not man for it.** 
Afterward He made Himself man, 
which He did for His love of him. 
^* For us and for our salvation/' 



First Consideration of Man. 5 

whereby we see that in all things 
God has aimed at man, finally in 
him and by him to bring all things 
unto Himself, the beginning and end 
of all. 

Man's body was first formed of 
virgin earth, afterwards the soul was 
by divine inspiration infused ; and so 
the body and the soul made a living 
creature. '* He breathed into his 
face the breath of life.'' Man was 
created upright, only a small part 
touching the earth ; the head directly 
tending towards heaven whereon he 
gazes, contrary to the plant, which 
has its head and root in the ground. 
So that man is a divine plant, and 
grows up unto heaven. The beast is 
in the middle, between man and the 
plant. There are three parts in man. 
The spirit (or mind), which is in the 
brain, and which is the fountain of 
the sensitive soul ; the soul, and the 
flesh. The spirit and the flesh are 



6 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

the two extremes, heaven and earth ; 
the soul, the middle region. 

There are in the soul two very dif- 
ferent parts. One pure, intellectual, 
and divine, wherein the base has no 
part ; the other, base, sensitive, and 
brutish, a mean between the intel- 
lectual part and the body. 

The spirit is the highest, and most 
heroic, a spark, and image of the 
Divinity, breathing nothing but good 
and heaven, to which it tends. 
The flesh is as the dregs of the earth, 
tending always to material things. 

The soul is continually disturbed 
by the spirit and the flesh, and, ac- 
cording to whichever it yields, is 
either spiritual and good, or carnal 
and evil. Here are lodged all those 
natural affections which are neither 
virtuous nor vicious, as the love of 
our parents and friends, fear of shame, 
compassion toward the afflicted, de- 
sire for good reputation. 



First Consideration of Man, 7 

The attributes of the body are 
health, beauty, cheerfulness, strength, 
and vigor. There is nothing to be 
preferred above bodily health, except 
honesty, which is the health of the 
soul. 

Next follows beauty, which is a 
powerful quality, nothing surpassing 
it ; there are none so barbarous, none 
so resolute as not to be influenced 
by it. It clouds the judgment, makes 
deep impressions, and men yield to 
its authority. Socrates called it ** a 
short tyranny '* ; Plato, ** the privilege 
of nature.'* 

** He who is gently born may well rejoice, 
To have by nature what he would by choice." 

There is nothing more beautiful in 
man than his soul ; and in the body 
of man than his visage, wherein is 
an image of the soul, like an escut- 
cheon with many quarters represent- 
ing the collection of all his titles to 



8 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

honor, placed at the entrance of his 
palace. 

The countenance is the throne of 
beauty and love, also of all inward 
emotions ; like the hand of a dial 
which notes the hours and moments 
of time, the wheels and movements 
being hidden within. He who shows 
in his countenance the favors of na- 
ture imprinted in rare and exquisite 
beauty, has a lawful power over us, 
and we, turning our eyes toward 
him, he likewise turns our affections 
and enthralls them despite ourselves. 
The beauty of the body, especially 
the visage, should in all reason 
demonstrate and prove the beauty of 
the soul. 

THE SOUL. 

It is difficult to define or say truly 
what the soul is, as with other forms ; 
because they are things relative, 
which subsist not of themselves, but 
are parts of a whole. It has been 



The Soul. 9 

discussed by the wisest of all nations, 
but with great diversity of opinion, 
varying according to country, re- 
ligion, and profession, without any 
certain determination. Aristotle con- 
futed twelve definitions that were 
before him, and could hardly sustain 
his own. 

It is easy to say what it is not : 
That it is not fire, air, water; nor 
has it the qualities of these elements. 
Neither has it the action, life, or en- 
ergy of a living body, for to live, to 
see, to understand, is but the effect 
or action of the soul and not the soul 
itself. We may simply say it is an 
essential quickening power, which 
gives to the plant a vegetal life ; 
to a beast a sensible life, which com- 
prehends the vegetal ; to a man an 
intellectual life, which includes the 
other two. 

I call it the intellective soul rather 
than the reasonable ; for in some 



lo A Treatise on Wisdom. 

measure, according to the greatest 
philosophers, and experience itself, 
the reasonable is likewise found in 
beasts ; but not the intellective, 
that being higher. Not '^ like horse 
and mule in whom there is no 
understanding.** 

The soul is not the beginning or 
source. That properly belongs to 
the sovereign first Author ; but an 
inward cause of life, motion, sense, 
and understanding; it moves the 
body, but God moves the soul. 

Concerning the nature and essence 
of the human soul (for the soul of a 
beast is without doubt material, bred 
and born with the matter, and with 
it corruptible) there is a question of 
great importance. Is it corporeal or 
incorporeal ? It is corporeal accord- 
ing to the philosophers and our 
greatest theologists, and their de- 
cision is that whatever is created, 
being compared to God, is gross 



The Soul. 1 1 

and material, and He only is incor- 
poreal. 

Whatever is included in this finite 
world is finite ; limited both in virtue 
and substance, enclosed and circum- 
scribed, which is the true condition 
of the body. God only is infinite. 

We must consider in spiritual 
creatures three things, essence, 
faculty, and operation. By the 
latter, which is the action, we know 
the faculty, and by it, the essence. 
The action may be hindered, and 
wholly cease without any prejudice 
to the soul and its faculties ; as the 
skill and knowledge of painting re- 
main in the painter, although his 
hands are bound ; but if the faculties 
perish the soul must needs be gone, 
as fire is no longer fire having lost 
the power of warming. 

Another important question offers 
itself : Whether there is in creat- 
ures, especially in man, one soul or 



12 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

more ? Upon this point there are 
various opinions, but these may be 
reduced to three. Some of the 
Greeks, and almost all the Arabians, 
imitating them, have thought that 
there was in every man one immor- 
tal soul. Many Egyptians held quite 
a contrary opinion, and believed in a 
plurality of souls in every creature, 
each different and distinct : two in 
beasts, three in man — two mortal, 
the vegetal and sensible ; the third 
intellective, immortal. The third 
opinion, and most accepted by all 
nations, is that there is in every 
creature but one soul. The plurality 
of souls on one side seems strange 
and absurd, for that is giving many 
forms to one and the same thing. 
On the other side, it gives credit and 
help to our belief in the immortality 
of the intellectual soul, for there 
being three souls there can follow 
no injury if two of them die and the 



The Soul. 13 

third continue immortal. The unity 
of the soul seems to oppose its im- 
mortality, for how can one and the 
same indivisible thing be part mortal 
and part immortal ? It would seem of 
necessity that the soul must be alto- 
gether mortal or immortal, but that 
is absurd : the first abolishes all reli- 
gion and sound philosophy, the sec- 
ond makes beasts likewise immortal. 
Nevertheless, it seems more credible 
that there is in every creature but 
one soul, for the diversity of faculties 
and actions neither lessen nor height- 
en this unity, any more than the 
unity of a spring is affected by its 
various rivers, or the unity of the 
sun dissipated by its various effects, 
to heat, to lighten, to melt, to dry, to 
whiten, to blacken. Neither does 
this essential unity of the soul hinder 
in any way the immortality of the 
human soul in its essence, for though 
the vegetal and sensitive faculties, 



14 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

which are but accidents, die — that is, 
cannot be exercised without the 
body, the intellectual soul is al- 
ways well, because there is no need 
of a body. 

The immortality of the soul (the 
foundation of all religion) is gener- 
ally acknowledged throughout the 
world by outward profession, though 
inwardly this is not always so. 

It is profitable to believe, and has 
been proved by many natural rea- 
sons ; but better established by the 
authority of religion than in any 
other way. There is in man an 
inclination and disposition to be- 
lieve it ; he is disposed by nature 
to desire it ; the justice of God con- 
firms it. 

As to what becomes of the soul, and 
its condition after the natural separa- 
tion by death there are many opinions, 
but that question does not belong 
to the subject of this book. The 



The SouL 1 5 

metempsychosis or transmigration 
theory of Pythagoras has been ac- 
cepted in some degree by the 
Academicians, Stoics, Egyptians, 
and others, though not by all in the 
same sense, some admitting it only 
as a punishment for the wicked, as 
in the case of Nebuchadnezzar, who 
was changed into a beast by the 
judgment of God. Others have 
thought that the good souls became 
angels, wicked ones devils. Also 
some have affirmed that the souls of 
the wicked after a certain time are 
reduced to nothing. But the truth 
of all this we must learn from re- 
ligion, and the theologists who speak 
of it more clearly. 

The senses are the sentinels of the 
soul watching for its preservation, 
and messengers or scouts, to serve as 
ministers and instruments to the un- 
derstanding, the sovereign part of 
the soul. 



1 6 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

THE SENSES. 

It is said all knowledge begins in 
us by the senses, but this is not alto- 
gether true. They are our first 
masters. One does not depend upon 
another, each being equally great in 
its own domain, though the domain 
of one far exceeds that of another. 

Of the five senses given to man, 
these are the most precious and 
beautiful jewels : sight, hearing, and 
speech. 

Sight in composition is most won- 
derful and of shining beauty. It 
excels all the other senses in appre- 
hending more quickly, extending 
farther, even to the heavens and 
fixed stars; it is more divine, and 
possesses liberty incomparable, abil- 
ity to signify our thoughts, to please 
or displease ; it serves for a tongue 
and a hand ; it speaks and it strikes. 
The privation of sight is darkness, 
which naturally brings fear, because 



The Senses. 1 7 

one is robbed of so excellent a 
guide. 

Hearing is a spiritual sense, an 
agent of the understanding, capable 
of bringing divine things to the soul 
which the sight cannot. Science, 
truth, and virtue have entrance into 
the soul by the ear, the porter of the 
I Spirit. Christianity teaches faith 
' and salvation come by hearing ; and 
that faith is the belief in those 
things that are not seen. 

Speech is peculiarly given to man, 

a precious gift, and very necessary. 

It is the interpreter of the soul, the 

messenger of the heart, the gate by 

which that which is within issues 

forth, and the spirit itself is made 

\ visible. As vessels are known 

whether they are broken or whole, 

full or empty, by the sound, so is 

! man by his speech. The tongue is 

j a powerful master, an imperious 

( commander. This is a great point 



1 8 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

in wisdom : he who rules his tongue 
well is wise, because in it are both 
good and evil. Speech should be 
sober and seldom. To know how to 
be silent is a great advantage in 
speaking well ; and he who does not 
know how to do one well, does not 
know the other. 

They who abound in words are 
barren in good speech and good 
actions ; like those trees which are 
full of leaves and yield little fruit. 
The wise man has his tongue in his 
heart, the fool his heart in his 
tongue. 

A man must not be too anxious to 
relate what happens in the market- 
place, nor enter into a long account 
of his own actions and fortunes, for 
others do not take the same pleasure 
in hearing as in relating. Above all, 
never be offensive, for speech is the 
forerunner and instrument of charity, 
and to abuse it, is contrary to the 



The Senses. 19 

purpose of nature. All kind of fool- 
ish speech is unworthy a man of 
wisdom and honor. 

Temperance in speech belongs also 
to secrecy. Be faithful not only in 
that which is committed and given 
to you to keep, but in that which 
wisdom and discretion tell you to 
suppress. The tongue of a wise man 
is the door of a royal cabinet, 
which is no sooner opened than a 
thousand treasures present them- 
selves. 

Two things indicate an obscure 
understanding: to be silent when 
we ought to converse, and to speak 
when we ought to be silent. You 
can close the mouth of a bull, but 
you cannot shut the mouth of a 
fool. 

A silent woman is a rare thing, 
i and seldom found, therefore she 
is said to be a precious gift from 
i God. 



20 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

THE SPIRIT. 

The spirit or mind is the intel- 
lectual part of the soul, consisting 
of many parts, faculties, and actions, 
having many doubts and difficulties. 
Its first office is simply to receive 
and apprehend the images which 
present themselves. This is imagi- 
nation and apprehension. The power 
to digest the things received by the 
imagination is reason. 

The exercise of this power which 
is to arrange and divide the things 
received, and also to add others, 
is reasoning. The subtle faculty to 
do this, and to penetrate the things 
considered, is called spirit. 

The reviewing them all, trying 
them by the whetstone of reason 
to frame a firm decision, is judg- 
ment. 

The effect in the end of this un- 
derstanding is knowledge and intel- 
ligence. 



The Spirit 2 1 

The action that follows this knowl- 
edge, which is to extend itself and 
advance the thing known, is will. 

So all these attributes, imagination, 
reason, judgment, understanding, 
knowledge, will, are one and the 
same essence, but all are different in 
force, virtue, and action. 

No one can set forth the greatness 
or capacity of the mind of man. Let 
it be called an image of the living 
God, a celestial ray, to which God 
has given reason for a guide. There 
is nothing wherein the mind plays 
not a part, with vain and trivial sub- 
jects as well as high and weighty 
ones. The action of the mind is 
always to search without intermis- 
sion. The pursuits of the spirit of 
man are without limit. The world 
ris a school of inquiry. 

We are born to search for truth, 
but to possess it belongs to a higher 
power. Truth is not his who thrusts 



2 2 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

himself into it, but his who strives to 
reach it. 

Truth and error are received into 
the soul in the same way ; the mind 
has no way to distinguish truth from 
a He but by reason and experience. 

The spirit of man is rash and dan- 
gerous, especially one that is quick 
and vigorous ; for, being so free, it 
easily shakes off common opinions, 
and those rules whereby it should be 
restrained, as unjust tyranny. It un- 
dertakes to examine all things, to 
judge that which is received plausibly 
by the world to be ridiculous and 
absurd ; and finding an appearance 
of reason will defend itself against 
all. There are very few in whose 
guidance and conduct a man may 
trust, and upon whose judgment he 
can rely. The finest wits are not the 
wisest men. 

Wisdom and folly are near neigh- 
bors, with but a step between. 



The Spirit 23 

Aristotle said : '' There is no great 
spirit without some mixture of fol- 
ly." Seneca said: ''The mind of 
] man is naturally stubborn, always 
inclined to difficult and contrary 
things, and is easier led than driven ; 
like generous horses that are better 
governed with an easy bridle than a 
i cutting bit." 

I The will is made to follow the 
\ understanding, which is a guide and 
I lamp to it, but being corrupted by 
I the passions, perhaps corrupts the 
I understanding, and hence come the 
I greater part of erroneous judgments. 
! Envy, hatred, malice, love, and 
J fear make us judge and look at 
j things other than they are, from 
! whence comes the saying, " Judge 
I without passion." 

So it is that the generous actions 
, of men are often obscured by base 
i misconstructions, which proceed 
I either from envy, a malignant na- 



24 A Treatise on Wisdom.. 

ture, unsound judgment, or that the 
sight is so clouded that the clear 
splendor of virtue cannot be dis- 
cerned in its native purity. 

The will is a part of the reasonable 
soul, and of great importance, and it 
is necessary above all things to know 
how to rule it. By the will the soul 
goes forth and dwells in the things 
beloved, into which it transforms 
itself, bearing the title and livery of 
vice or virtue, whichever it follows, 
ennobled by loving those things that 
are high and worthy to be loved, or 
vilified by giving itself to that which 
is base and unworthy. 

The will is sharpened by oppo- 
sition and dulled by satiety, pursuing 
that which it has not. 

THE PASSIONS. 

Passion is a violent emotion of 
the soul in the sensitive part, which 
is made either to follow that which 



Ambition. 25 

the soul thinks to be good for it or 
to avoid that which it takes to be 
, evil. Every passion is moved by the 
! appearance and opinion, either of 
what is good or evil. Those pas- 
sions which have the most appear- 
ance of good are love, desire, hope, 
\ despair, joy ; of evil, are anger, 
I hatred, envy, jealousy, revenge, 

I cruelty, and fear. 

I 

LOVE. 

I The first and chief mistress of all 
I the passions is love, which consists 
i of various degrees, as friendship, 
' charity, and esteem. 

AMBITION. 

Ambition (which is a thirst for 

'; honor and glory) is a sweet and 

! pleasing passion, but not unal- 

(loyed. An ambitious man never 

looks backward but forward, and it 

is greater grief to suffer one to go 



26 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

before him than pleasure to let a 
thousand be behind him. Ambition 
is twofold — -one for glory and honor, 
the other for greatness and com- 
mand. An ambitious nature is never 
satisfied, soaring higher and higher 
to enrich itself, not at a slow pace, 
but with a loose bridle running 
headlong to greatness and glory. 
Tacitus said, the last vice which even 
the wise abandon, is desire for glory. 

Ambition is the strongest and 
most powerful passion. It van- 
quishes even love, and robs it of 
health and tranquillity (for glory 
and tranquillity cannot lodge to- 
gether). 

It tramples under foot reverence 
and respect for religion. Take for 
example Mahomet, who tolerated 
all religions, that he might reign ; 
and those arch heretics who would 
rather be leaders in lies than dis- 
ciples of truth. 



Ambition. 2 J 

There is nothing that resists the 
force of ambition, and it has no 
limit, but is a gulf without brink or 
bottom, — a fire which increases by 
the nourishment given it ; it some- 
times hides other vices, but does not 
take them away. Serpents retain 
i their venom though frozen, and an 
j ambitious man his vices, though he 
'covers them with cold dissimulation. 
i Ambition is not altogether to be 
f condemned, for the noblest desires 
'and actions arise from it; and al- 
! though honorable achievements and 
glorious exploits have not been true 
works of virtue but of ambition in 
I their authors, nevertheless the ef- 
fects have been beneficial. That one 
should be virtuous and do good for 
; glory as if that were the recompense, 
lis a false and vain opinion. Much 
'were the state of virtue to be 
pitied if she should receive her com- 
mendations and rewads from another. 



28 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

A man must settle his soul, and con- 
trol his actions, that the brightness 
of honor dazzle not his reason ; and 
must strengthen his mind with brave 
resolutions, which serve him as bar- 
riers against the assaults of ambi- 
tion. The greater the virtue the 
less glory does it seek. Never forget 
that man comes into the world as to 
a comedy where he has no choice in 
the part he has to play, but can only 
think how to play the part well that 
is given him. 

Let us accept modestly whatever 
is committed to us, use it sin- 
cerely, giving an account to God, 
who has placed us here to stand 
sentinel to the end that others may 
rest in safety under our care. 

Let us seek no other recompense 
than a good conscience as witness to 
our well-doing. 

Let us hold it for a maxim, that 
the fruit of our honorable actions is 



Covetousness. 29 

to have acted them. Virtue cannot 
find outside itself a reward worthy 
itself. 

CO VETO USN ESS. 

Covetousness is the vile and base 
passion of fools, who account riches 
the highest good and poverty the 
greatest evil, weighing what is good 
by the goldsmith's balance, when 
nature has taught us to measure it 
by the ell of necessity. 

What greater folly can there be 

than to adore that which nature 

itself has put under our feet and 

hidden in the bowels of the earth as 

! unworthy to be seen. ^* Riches serve 

I a wise man but command a fool." 

I What can be more base than for a 

I man to disgrace himself and become 

la slave to that which should be sub- 

jject to him. *' Poverty wants many 

I things but covetousness all.** 

j The counter passion to covetous- 

iness, too, is vicious, which is — to 



30 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

hate riches or to waste them prodi- 
gally ; this is to refuse the means to 
do well and to escape the labor of a 
noble use of them. 

If riches come to you do not re- 
ject them, but cheerfully accept 
them ; receive them into your house, 
but not into your heart, into your 
possession, but not into your love. 
Employ them honestly and discreetly 
for the good of others. If they hap- 
pen to be lost or stolen, be not 
sorrowful, and let them go by them-* 
selves. 

He deserves not to be accepted of 
God, and is unworthy His love, who^ 
makes account of the riches of this 
world. 

POVERTY AND RICHES. 

The two elements and sources of 
discord in the world are poverty and 
riches, for the excessive wealth of ^ 
some stirs them to pride, a love of 



Poverty and Riches. 3 1 

.luxury and pleasure, and disdain of 
the poor, and the extreme poverty 
^of others provokes them to jealousy 
and despair. 

, Which of the two, poverty or 
; riches, is more dangerous has not 
^been determined. According to Aris- 
totle, it is abundance ; for a state 
need not doubt those who desire 
\ only to live, but those who are am- 
Jbitious and rich. According to 
I Plato it is poverty, for desperate 
J poor men are terrible and furious 
creatures, and they dare, because 
I their number is great. 

Law-makers and statesmen have 
jgone about to take away these two 
extremes, to make all things com- 
mon, and to establish equality which 
they call the mother of peace and 
j amity, something which can never 
exist, except in the imagination, 
j There is no hatred stronger than 
between equals — the jealousy of 



32 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

equals is the school of trouble. In- 
equality is good, if it be moderate. 
Harmony does not consist in like 
sounds, but in true accord. 

Good and ill — prosperity and ad- 
versity — is the twofold fortune in 
which we enter the list, the two 
schools of the spirit of man. 

Wisdom teaches us to hold our- 
selves upright, to keep always the 
same countenance, and whatever 
falls into our hands to make it a 
subject for doing good. 

Honors, riches, and the favors of 
fortune are wrongfully called goods, 
and he w^ho names them so and 
places in them the good of man 
fastens his happiness to a rotten 
cable and anchors it in quicksands. 
For what is more uncertain than 
such possessions which come and go, 
pass and run on like a river ? Like 
a river they make a noise at their 
coming in, their entrance is full of 



Poverty and Riches. 33 

vexation ; and when they are dried 
up there remains nothing in the bot- 
;tom but mud. Prosperity is like a 
honeyed poison, sweet and pleasant, 
,but dangerous. When fortune laughs, 
and everything is according to our 
heart's desire, then should we fear 
most, stand upon our guard, bridle 
jour affections, control our actions by 
ireason, and above all avoid presump- 
tion. Prosperity is a slippery pass 
Iwhereon a man must take sure foot- 
ling. There is no time when men so 
much forget God as in prosperity ; 
it is a rare thing to find men who 
Willingly attribute to Him their 
success. 

I There are some who swim in shal- 
low waters, elated with the least 
jfavors of fortune, forgetting them- 
Iselves, and becoming insupportable, 
jwhich is a true picture of folly. 
• A wise man knows how to com- 
mand in prosperity, and conduct 



34 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

himself in adversity, which is the 
more difificult. 

Wisdom furnishes us with arms 
and discipline for both combats, with 
a spur for adversity to incite our 
courage, and a bridle for prosperity 
to keep ourselves within bounds of 
modesty ; the first is fortitude, the 
last temperance, the two moral vir- 
tues against the two fortunes which 
that great philosopher, Epictetus, 
well expressed in two words con- 
taining all moral philosophy — "' Sus- j 
tain and abstain/' 

In whatever afflicts us let us con- 
sider two things, the nature of that 
which has happened to us, and that 
which is in ourselves. We must 
likewise cast our eyes upon those 
that are in a worse condition than 
ourselves, who would think them- 
selves happy were they in our place. 

He who takes heed, and considers 
the adversity of another as some- 



Poverty and Riches. 35 

thing that may happen to himself, 
is sufficiently armed. It is an old 
saying, that he who is suddenly sur- 
prised is half beaten, and he who is 
warned, is as two against one. They 
are unwise who say, *' I had not 
thought of it." 

' How much we are deceived and 
|how little judgment we have, when we 
think that that which has happened 
to others cannot likewise affect us. 
', There are not as many waves in 
^the sea as desires in the heart of 
jman ; it is a bottomless deep. 

Our desires gather strength 
through hope, which often blinds 
|our understanding, holds our 
thoughts hanging in the clouds, 
jmaking us dream, waking. 
\ Despair, when once lodged in our 
diearts, torments our souls, and for 
the love of that which we think 
never to obtain we lose even what- 
ever we possess. 



36 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

Anger is a foolish passion, and 
puts us wholly out of ourselves, and, 
in seeking the means to withstand 
the evil which threatens, or that has 
already affected us, it makes our 
blood boil in our hearts, and raises a 
furious vapor in our spirits which 
blinds us, and casts us headlong into 
whatever may satisfy the desire we 
have for revenge. 

A man deceives himself in think- 
ing there is courage in violence. 
Anger shows itself to be more sav- 
age than a beast, when neither by 
defence, nor excuse, nor by silence 
and patience can it be pacified. 
This passion feeds upon itself with 
a persuasion that it has reason, that 
it is just, and that others are to 
blame, but the injustice of another 
cannot make it just, nor the loss we 
suffer from another make it profit- 
able to us ; it would cure an evil hyk 
an evil, and to yield the correction 



Poverty and Riches. 3 7 

of an offence to anger is to correct 
[Vice by itself. Pythagoras was wont 
ito say that the end of anger was the 
ibeginning of repentance. 

The most glorious conquest is for 
,a man to conquer himself, not to be 
^moved by another. To be stirred 
.to anger is to confess the accusation. 

He can never be great, who yields 
himself to the offence of another. 
}.{ we vanquish not our anger it will 
onquer us. Reason when blinded 
hy passion serves us no more than 
|:he pinioned wing of a bird. How 
^nuch grace and sweetness there is in 
clemency, how pleasing and accept- 
able to others, and gratifying to 
L)urselves ; it draws unto us the 
nearts and wills of men. In consid- 
ration of that esteem and love 
ivhich we bear wisdom, we must 
command ourselves, remain constant 
^nd invincible, lift our thoughts 
Jrom earth to that height which is 



38 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

never overshadowed with clouds, 
nor troubled with thunders, but in 
perpetual serenity. 

Hatred, which strangely and with- 
out reason troubles us, puts it in the 
power of those we hate to afflict and 
vex us. If there is anything to be 
hated in this world it is hate itself. 

Envy is cousin-german to hatred ; 
a miserable passion which in torment 
exceeds hell itself. It is the desire 
for that good which another pos- 
sesses ; it gnaws our heart, and turns 
the good of another to our own 
hurt. Whilst an envious man looks 
upon the possessions of another, he 
loses what is good in himself and 
takes no delight in it. 

Do thou rather pity others than 
envy them ; if it should be a true 
good that has happened to another, 
we should rejoice at it. To be 
pleased with another's prosperity is 
to increase our own. 



Poverty and Riches. 39 

Jealousy is a weak malady of the 

/soul, vain, terrible, and tyrannical. 

It is the gall which corrupts the 

honey of life; it changes love into 

:hate and respect into disdain. The 

Imeans to avoid it is for a man to 

OTake himself worthy of that which 

he desires, for jealousy is a distrust 

iof one's self. The Emperor Aurelius, 

jof whom Faustina, his wife, asked 

^what he would do if his enemy 

^Cassius should obtain the victory 

against him in battle, answered, '' I 

serve not the gods so slenderly that 

jthey will send me so hard a fortune.'* 

So they who have any part in the 

^affection of another and fear losing 

it, should say, I honor not so little 

ilhis love that he will deprive me of 

:;it. The confidence we have in our 

own merit is a great gauge of the 

regard of another. 

ai Cruelty is a detestable vice and 
against nature ; it is called inhu- 



40 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

manity ; it proceeds from weakness, 
an offspring of cowardice, for a valor- 
ous man always exercises his strength 
against a resisting enemy, whom he 
no sooner has at his mercy than he is 
satisfied. 

It arises from the inward malignity 
of the soul which feeds and delights 
itself with the hurt of another. 

Compassion is that virtue so much 
commended in religion, found in the 
holiest and wisest of mankind. It is 
to mourn with those who are af- 
flicted, and with a fellow-feeling pity 
their miseries. Wisdom teaches us 
to succor the afflicted, without afflict- 
ing ourselves. God commands us to 
aid and have a care for the poor and 
to defend their cause. 

Sadness is a languishing of the 
spirit, it is a dangerous enemy to our 
rest, it takes from us reason, it cor- 
rupts the whole man, puts his viri 
tues to sleep when he most needs 



Poverty and Riches. 4 1 

, them to withstand that evil which 
• oppresses him. Philosophy teaches 
\ us to confront and disdain all evils, 
though they be great and grievous ; 
accounting them not evils, or at least 
small and light, and unworthy the 
slightest disturbance of our minds, 
^To be sorry or complain is ill befit- 
ting a man ; so taught the Stoics, 
i Peripatetics, and Platonists. This 
^.manner of preserving a man from 
I sorrow and melancholy is as rare as 
iit is excellent, and belongs to spirits 
of the highest rank. 

Fear is the apprehension of evil to 
come, which holds us in continued 
(anxiety ; not that fear of God so 
imuch commended in the Scriptures, 
nor that fear which proceeds from 
love, and is a sweet respect toward 
^the thing beloved ; but that vicious 
(fear which troubles and afflicts. It 
•is a deceitful passion, and has no 
jother power over us but to mock and 



42 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

allure; and in a doubtful darkness 
holds and torments us with masks 
and shows of evils, that have naught 
in themselves whereby to hurt us, 
save in appearance. Fear, doubtless, 
IS of all evils the greatest and most 
vexatious, for other evils are but evils 
while they last ; but fear is of that 
which is,and that which is not, and per- 
haps never shall be, and sometimes of 
that which cannot possibly be. This 
then is a passion truly malignant and 
tyrannical, which draws from an im- 
aginary evil true and bitter sorrows. 

That mind is in a lamentable state 
which is troubled about future things, 
robbed of its understanding, and 
losing the peaceable comfort of 
present good 

Let no man anticipate evils. Our 
fears are as likely to deceive us as 
our hopes, and it may be those things 
which we dread most may bring the 
greatest comfort. 



The Estimation of Life. 43 

The turn of a wheel raises him 
who is of low degree to the highest 
j post of honor; and many times it 
happens that we are preserved by 
that which we thought would have 
been our overthrow. 

THE ESTIMATION OF LIFE. 

It is an important point of wisdom 
to know the value of life, how to 
preserve and direct it ; and there is 

( nothing, perhaps, wherein a man so 
entirely fails. Some consider life a 
sovereign good, and desire to pro- 

\ long it upon any condition, thinking 
it can never be bought too dearly. 
He who lives only for the pleasure 
of life lives not ; it is no marvel if 
he fail and his life be wholly com- 
pounded of errors ; but life to those 

\ who are good and wise may be profit- 
able both to themselves and others. 
It is a token of wisdom and industry 

I to pass our lives in quietness, making 



44 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

a virtue of necessity. There is a 
time to live, and there is a time to 
die, and a good death is better than 
an ill life. 

A wise man lives no longer, than 
that his life may be worth more than 
his death ; for the longest life is not 
always the best. How many men 
have survived their glory, and by a 
desire to lengthen their life but a 
little, have darkened it again and 
lived to help bury their own honor? 
To what end does a long life serve? 
Simply to live, to breathe, eat, drink, 
and see ; this needs not a long time ; 
who will not be wearied doing the 
same thing always ? It is to begin 
where we end, and to re-spin the 
same web. Perhaps some will say 
they desire a long life to learn and 
profit the more, and to proceed to 
greater perfection of knowledge and 
virtue. We employ but badly that 
little which is given to us, not only 



The Estimation of Life. 45 

j in vanity and those things which 
. yield us no profit, but in malice and 
\ sin, and then cry out and complain 
I that we have not enough given to us. 
We have life enough, but we do 
i not manage it well. 
i Seneca said : '*' A great part of life 

I IS lost to those who do ill, a greater, 
i to those who do nothing, and all to 
\ those who do that which they should 
;^ not.*' There are three sides to every 
if life, three degrees, as it were : one 

II private and in the closet of the heart, 
1 another in the house and family, the 

third in public or in the eyes of the 
world. It is more difficult to order 
I and rule the first than the other two ; 
( the reason is, because where there 
j is neither judge nor controller, no 
j thought either of punishment or 
J recompense, when conscience and 
1 reason are our only guides, we carry 
ourselves more carelessly than in pub- 
lic, where we are held in check by 



46 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

fear of reproach, and the judgment 
of others. There are many who in 
public are accounted great and holy, 
who in their private lives have noth- 
ing to commend them. That which 
is done in public is fiction, the truth 
is secret. " The whole world plays 
the comedian.'' 

Public actions thunder in the ears 
of men, and it is of this a man thinks 
when engaged in them. 

Men are more scrupulous in out- 
ward actions that are but of small 
importance, than in inward and secret 
actions, that are requisite and neces- 
sary, and therefore more difficult. 

They who commend so much the 
retired life, as a safe retreat from 
the molestations and troubles of the 
world, and a means of preserving 
themselves pure and free from vice, 
seem to have reason on their side, 
for in the company of the wicked 
there is danger. But they who 



The Estimation of Life. 47 

ink that a solitary life is the more 
I .perfect, more fit for the exercise of 
, (Virtue, grossly deceive themselves, 
.Jifor it is an ease of life, an indifferent 
I .possession — it is not to enter into 
1 (business, troubles, and difificulties, 
jibut to flee from them ; and it is easier 
iito part with goods, honors, and re- 
jjisponsibilities than to govern them 
3 iwell. To think solitude a sanctuary 
and an assured haven against all vice 
.|(and temptations is not true in all 
llrespects. To flee is not to escape, 
t 'pometimes it increases the danger. 
.A man must indeed be wise and 
I Strong and well assured of himself, 
jjjwhen he falls into his own hands; 
fhere is an excellent Spanish proverb 
Iwhich says, *' God keep me from my- 
self/* It is beyond all doubt far 
jmore noble and difficult to discharge 
; jthe duties of a king, a prelate, or 
] pastor, than those of a monk or 
3 fiermit. 



I 



48 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

COMPARISONS OF LIFE. 

The comparisons between country 
and city life to him who loves wis- 
dom are not hard to make. In the 
fields the spirit is more free and to 
itself. In cities, both our affairs and 
those of others — the contentions, 
visits, and entertainments, how much 
timedothey steal from us? "Friends 
steal away time.** Cities are prisons 
to men's spirits, as cages are to birds. 
The celestial fire that is in us will 
not be shut up, it loves the air and 
the fields. It has been said that 
country life is the cousin of wisdom, 
which cannot be without beautiful 
free thoughts and meditation, not 
found amidst the troubles and con- 
fusion of the city. The country life 
is pure, innocent, and simple. As 
for pleasure and health the whole 
heavens lie open before us, the earth 
discloses its beauty, its fruits are be- 



Comparisons of Life. 49 

fore our eyes ; while those who live 
in cities are banished from this 
iworld. 

\ Some have thought that life led in 
(common, wherein nothing belongs to 
lany man whereby he may say, ** this is 
,mine/' or " that is thine,'* tends most 
to perfection, and has most charity 
nd concord. This may take place 
an the company of a certain number 
.'of people led and directed by certain 
Irules, but not in a state and common- 
iwealth. Plato having once approved 
Jit, thinking thereby to take away 
,,all avarice and dissensions, quickly 
{changed his opinion ; for, as the 
^practice shows, not only is there no 
hearty affection toward that which is 
^common to all, but in such commu- 
nities are murmurings, contentions, 
knd hatreds, and as the proverb 
isays, ** The common ass is always 
•liU saddled." 

4 



50 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

SOME OF MAN»S NATURAL QUALI- 
TIES. 

As man is composed of two parts, 
the soul and body, it is a difficult 
matter to describe him in his perfec- 
tion. With regard to his spirit he is 
extolled above all other creatures, 
but let us consider him according to 
his life, referring to these five points, 
vanity, weakness, inconstancy, mis- 
ery, and presumption, which are his 
natural qualities. Vanity is essen- 
tially a quality of the human mind, 
and there is nothing more foolish. 
Pindar called it the '* shadow of a» 
dream.'' Vanity is shown and ex-' 
pressed in many ways; first in our 
thoughts and imaginations which 
are often more than vain, frivolous, 
and ridiculous, taking our time with-f 
out our perceiving it. So natural 
and powerful is vanity that it robsj 
and plucks out of our hands solid' 
and substantial things and leaves 



Mans Natural Qualities, 51 

us nothing, — building castles in 
Spain. 

What vanity and loss of time there 
are in salutations, entertainments, and 
ceremonies. How many hyperbolic 
speeches, hypocrisies, and impos- 
tures there are in the sight and 
knowledge of all ; how much incon- 
venience does a man suffer from 
these courtly vanities ; and in famil- 
iar conversation how much that is 
unprofitable, false, boastful and vain, 
not to say wicked and pernicious, 
does he endure. A vain man de- 
\ sires and delights to speak of him- 
' self and that which is his, and, if he 
I thinks he has said or done anything 
i worthy of honor he is not at ease 
until he has told of it and made it 
j known to others. The crown and 
J perfection of the vanity of man is 
< . shown in that which he most seeks 
; after. He pleases himself and places 
his whole happiness in those vain 



52 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

and frivolous goods without which 
he could live comfortably, not caring 
for the true and essential ; his whole 
good, nothing but opinions and 
dreams; he runs, he hunts up and 
down, he catches a shadow, he flies, 
he dies, and a mote at last is the 
reward of his lifers work. 

Let us note some effects and tes- 
timonies of human weakness. It is 
imbecility to be unwilling to give or 
receive a reproof, and to be unable to 
give a denial with reason, or to suffer a 
repulse with patience. Another form 
of imbecility is when a man subjects 
himself to a certain particular mode 
of life; this is effeminate and un- 
worthy an honest man ; it makes him 
different in conversation and may be 
hurtful too, when a change of man- 
ners and bearing is necessary. In false 
accusations and suspicion there is a 
twofold weakness : one in justifying 
and excusing one's self too carefully ; 



11 



Mans Natural Qualities. 53 

the other when the accused is so coura- 
geous that he takes no care to excuse 
or justify himself, because he scorns 
the accusation and accuser as un- 
worthy an answer, and will not do 
himself the wrong to defend himself. 
TThe fairest form of living is to be 
pliable to all, even to excess itself if 
Tneed be ; to be able to dare, to know 
^ow to do all things, and yet do 
Viothing but what is good. It is 
^good to know all, but not to use all. 
^Another testimony of weakness is 
Vunning after scholastic examples; 
'never to settle an opinion without 
-proof in print ; not to believe men 
but such as are in books, nor truth 
?tself, except it is of the ancients. 
5<*or this reason foolish things if they 
once pass the press have credit and 
dignity. Now every day many 
things are done before our eyes 
Which, if we had the ability and in- 
clination to collect and apply to the 



54 ^ Treatise on Wisdom. 

times, we should find to be miracles, 
and marvellous examples quite equal 
to those of the past, which we ad- 
mire so much, because they are old, 
and in print. 

But after all this, what better diss 
closes human weakness than reli 
gion ? Its very intention is to make 
man feel his own infirmity, his noth- 
ingness ; and to make him receive 
from God his good, his strength, his' 
all. The weakness of man being so 
great, that to give him some access, 
and communion with the Divinity, 
and to unite him to God, it was neces- 
sary that God should humble Himself 
to the lowest : ** God, because in His 
height He could not be apprehended 
by us little ones, did humble Himself 
to men.'* Those sacrifices, not only 
of beasts but of human beings, that 
in former times were made through- 
out the world, and in some countries 
are still made, and those people who 



Inconstancy. 55 

believe that the principal service and 
most powerful means to appease 
God is to impose upon themselves 
some painful and difficult task, show 
signs of human infirmity and misery. 
It is true that God in the first ages 
and infancy of the world and nature 
did accept from the hands of religious 
men such devotion, taking in good 
part that which was done with the 
intent to honor and serve Him. But 
uniting the world by the sacrifice of 
His Son, He abolished them, and 
said " I will have mercy and not 
sacrifice.** 

I NCONSTANC Y. 

Man is, of all creatures, the most 
difficult to sound and know. He is 
dual and artificial, and there are in 
him so many cabinets and dark 
corners from which he comes forth, 
sometimes a man, sometimes a satyr ; 
in his actions is a perpetual race of 



56 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

errors ; sometimes a god, sometimes 
a fly ; he laughs and weeps for one 
and the same thing (as the e^^tremity 
of laughter is mingled with tears) ; 
content and discontent ; he will and 
he will not, and in the end knows 
not what he will ; now he is filled 
with such joy and gladness that he 
cannot stay within his own skin, and 
presently he falls out with himself 
and dares not trust himself. 

For the most part men's actions 
are nothing but impulses, induced 
by occasions and that have reference 
to others. Irresolution, inconstancy, 
and instability are the most common, 
and apparent vices in the nature of 
man. We follow our inclinations, 
and as the wind of occasion carries 
us, not governed by reason. 

Constancy, which is a stayed reso- 
lution, is always maintained by the 
wise, in whom the will is governed 
and subject to the rule of reason, 



1 



Misery. 5 7 

and not by fleeting, inconstant opin- 
ions which are commonly false. 

MISERY. 

'* Man born of a woman hath but a 
;short time to live, and is full of 
'misery ** ; sorrow is the only true 
,evil man is wholly born to, and it is 
|his natural property. The Mexicans 
jthus salute their new-born infants, 
i" Infant, thou art come into the 
iworld to suffer. Endure, suffer,* and 
hold thy peace." The empire of 
Isorrow is far greater than that of 
pleasure. Evil comes of itself with- 
out seeking ; pleasure must be sought 
llafter, and many times we pay more 
I 'for it than it is worth. Pleasure is 
not always unalloyed, and there is 
always something wanting ; grief is 
often entire and absolute, and the 
greatest pleasures touch us not so 
nearly as the lightest sorrows. We 

e not so conscious of our sound 



58 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

health as of the least malady. It is 
not enough that man is by nature 
miserable, and that besides substan- 
tial evils he forges false ones ; but he 
causes both the true and false to en- 
dure longer than necessary by the 
remembrance of what is past, and 
in the anticipation of that which is 
to come. The fearful, and sometimes 
false apprehension of evils which may 
come, afflict and darken, as with 
smoke, all the beauty and serenity of 
the soul. Let us leave this anticipa- 
tion of evil, for there is misery in 
every painful thought, and we have 
no power over that which is to come, 
and much less over what is past. 

The world has three sorts of people 
in it who take up much room and 
carry great sway, both in number 
and reputation : the superstitious, 
the formalists, and the pedants, and 
notwithstanding they differ in opin- 
ions they are all of one stamp ; they 



Misery. 59 

^are dangerous people and afflicted 
with an incurable disease. It is lost 
labor to try to persuade them to 
-change their minds, for they account 
'themselves the best and wisest in 
'the world. Opinionative obstinacy 
Us there in its proper seat, and for 
^him who is stricken with these evils 
khere is little hope of recovery. 
I The superstitious are enemies of 
^true religion ; they cover themselves 
With the cloak of piety, zeal, and 
]love toward God, tormenting and 
^punishing themselves more than is 
'needful, thinking thereby to merit 
'much, and that God is not only 
pleased but indebted to them. 
\ The formalists do nothing against 
'the tenor of the law, and fashion 
Hheir lives to outward forms, think- 
iing to be free from blame in follow- 
-ing their desires, by omitting no 
outward observance. The rule of 
^duty extends beyond the rule of 



6o A Treatise on Wisdom. 

law. How many good works have 
been omitted, how many evils com- 
mitted under the cloak of forms. 
And therefore it is very truly said 
that the extremity of the law is the 
extremity of wrong. 

The pedants, with great study and 
pains filch from other men^s writings 
their learning, and set it out to view 
with ostentation. Are there any 
people in the world so foolish in 
their affairs, more unskilful in every- 
thing, and yet so presumptuous and 
obstinate ? They have their memo- 
ries stuffed with the wisdom of other 
men, and have none of their own ; 
and it seems their learning serves for 
no other purpose than to make them 
arrogant prattlers. 

PRESUMPTION. 

Pride and presumption are theij 
greatest defects of the spirit. Pre- 
sumption makes a man content only 



Presumption. 6 1 

with himself ; he will not give place 
to another, he disdains counsel, and 
rests in his own opinions ; he takes 
upon himself to judge and condemn, 
even that which he does not under- 
stand. It is truly said that the best 
and most acceptable gift God ever 
:made to man is judgment. Pliny 
calls presumption the plague of man, 
the nurse of false and erroneous 
opinions. Want of religion or false 
.service to God proceeds from pre- 
sumption. We do not esteem or 
[understand Him enough, and our 
opinions and belief of the Divinity 
are not high and pure enough. I do 
inot mean by this enough^ proportion 
answerable to the greatness of God, of 
whom being infinite, it is impossible 
to conceive or believe enough — but 
enough in respect of what we can 
and ought to do. We do not ele- 
vate our thoughts sufficiently in our 
'imagination of the Deity ; our con- 



62 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

ception of Him is unworthy, and we 
speak not only of His works, but of 
His majesty, will, and judgment 
with more confidence and boldness 
than we dare speak of an earthly 
prince. Many there are who would 
scorn such service, and consider' 
themselves abused, and their honor 
violated, if we should speak of them 
and abuse their names in so base a 
manner. 

There are those who desire to lead' 
God, to flatter, to bend, and I might? 
say to brave, threaten, and murmur! 
against Him. As Caesar, who toldf 
his pilot not to fear to hoist the' 
sails and commit himself to the fury| 
of the sea even against destiny and> 
the will of Heaven, with only this 
assurance, that it was Caesar whom 
he carried. Presumption has thcj 
temerity to condemn and reject asj 
false all things that are not easily 
understood and that are unpalatable ; 



Presumption, 63 

it is the property of those who have 
a good opinion of themselves, for 
finding their minds superior in some 
point, and that they see a little more 
clearly than the common sort, they 
assume for themselves a law and au- 
thority to decide and determine all 

. things. It is great folly for a man 
to think he knows all that is to be 
known, — the jurisdiction and limits 
of nature, the capacity of the power 

y and will of God, — and frame for him- 

\ self the truth and falsehood of 
things. How much there is that at 

' one time we have rejected as impos- 
sible, which afterward we have been 
obHged to accept ; and on the other 
side, how many things have we re- 
ceived as articles of our faith, 
which have proved vanities and lies. 
By presumption we make too 

i much of ourselves. Man believes 
that the heavens, the stars, and all 

i the celestial bodies were only made 



64 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

for him, and the poor miserable 
wretch is in the meantime ridicu- 
lous. Yet he makes himself believe 
he is the master and commander of 
all ; that all creatures, even those 
great luminous bodies, of whose 
least virtue he is ignorant, move but 
for him and to do him service. A 
gosling might think as much, and 
perhaps with more justice, for of all 
that man receives he has nothing in 
his own power or understanding, and 
is continually in doubt and fear, 
while a beast receives whatever 
comes from above without concern 
or complaint. 

The height of presumption is for 
a man to persuade others to receive 
as canonical what he believes, to im- 
pose a belief as if it were an obliga- 
tion. There is nothing to which 
men are more prone than expressing 
their own opinions, and thinking it 
a work of charity to persuade others 



Presumption. 65 

to think as they do, and if necessary 
for their purpose to add their own 
inventions to supply a want. 

Dogmatists and those who would 
govern and give laws unto the world, 
bring in certain general and funda- 
mental propositions that they call 
principles and pre-suppositions, 
which they say we must neither 
doubt nor dispute, and upon which 
they afterwards build whatever they 
( please, and lead the world at their 
pleasure. But if these principles 
should be examined great untruths 
and weakness would be found in 
them. Every human proposition 
has as much authority as another, 
except where reason is the guide. 
Truth does not depend upon the 
authority and testimony of man ; 
there are no principles in man if 
Divinity has not revealed them. 

It is necessary for us to carefully 
guard and defend ourselves from 



66 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

self-love and presumption, the 
plague of mankind, the enemy of 
wisdom, the gangrene and corrup- 
tion of the soul. This foolish love 
of ourselves proceeds from ignorance, 
and we should know that we are in j 
as great danger in our own hands as \ 
in another's. I 

Faith, modesty, and a serious ac- 
knowledgment of our defects are a 
great proof of good and sound judg- 
ment, right will, and desire for wis- 
dom. I 

THE DIFFERENCE IN MEN. ' 

There is nothing in this lower 
world wherein is found so great a 
difference as among men, except in 
the souls of men, for there is a greater 
difference between man and man than 
between man and beast, for a good 
beast comes nearer a base man than 
a base man to a great personage. 
This great difference in men comes 



The Difference in Men. 67 

(from the inward qualities and from 
Ithe spirit, in which are so many de- 
.grees that it is an infinite thing to 
'Consider. The most notable diver- 
sity in man which concerns soul and 
ibody proceeds from his location on 
5 the earth, and accordingly from the 
different influences of country and 
climate. The features, complexion, 
|and manners are different ; also the 
; faculties of the soul. As fruits and 
jbeasts vary according to the coun- 
tries where they are found, so men 
lare born more or less warlike, just, 
temperate, docile, religious, chaste, 
•strong, and beautiful. As, for ex- 
iample, the Northerners excel in bod- 
fjily strength ; and to them belong the 
jmechanical arts and military inven- 
tions, and from them have come the 
^greatest armies. To the South be- 
long religious superstition, specula- 
tive sciences, and indolence ; while 
ithe middle regions are temperate in 



68 A Treatise on Wisdom, 

all things,— and to sv/eeten, temper, 
and reduce excess to moderation is 
the work of wisdom. 

The two fundamental principles of 
all human society are authority and 
obedience, power and subjection, 
superiority and inferiority. They 
are relatives, and mutually respect 
and protect each other, and are 
necessary in all assemblies and com- 
munities. To authority belong the 
honor and difficulty (these two com- 
monly go together) the goodness, 
sufficiency, and all qualities of great- 
ness, ability and courage. Authority 
is from heaven and of God. *^A11 
power is from God.'' It has been 
said that God does not appoint 
and establish men purely human 
and of common mould to rule, but 
such as by some divine touch and 
special virtue and gift from heaven 
excel others ; and they are called 
heroes. 



Marriage. 69 

Obedience is necessary for the 
J preservation of the public good ; it 
is more necessary than wise leader- 
jship. Although authority and obed- 
jience are equally required in every 
state, the trouble caused by dis- 
V obedience in subjects is far more 
J dangerous than by ill government. 
^Many states have prospered for a 
long time under the command of 
gwicked princes and magistrates, the 
f,subjects obeying and accommodating 
'themselves to the government. A 
jwise man, being once asked why the 
^Commonwealth of Sparta was so 
[Ifiourishing, and whether it was be- 
cause their king commanded well, 
i'answered, " Nay ; rather because the 
ncitizens obey well.'' If subjects once 
1 refuse to obey, and shake off the yoke, 
ithe state must necessarily fall. 

|| , MARRIAGE. 

\ Notwithstanding marriage is the 
^first and most important state, and, 



7o A Treatise on Wisdom. 

as it were, the foundation of human 
society, it has been condemned and 
ignored by many great men. First, 
they account the band and obliga- 
tion unjust, and a hard captivity, in- 
somuch that by marriage a man is 
bound and enthralled by the cares 
and humors of another; and, if it 
happen that he has been mistaken 
in his choice, his life is ever after- 
wards most miserable. What greater 
injustice can there be than that for 
one hour's folly, a fault committed 
without malice, and many times by 
the advice of another, a man should 
be bound to an everlasting torment. 
It were better to cast himself into the 
sea, and end his miserable life, than 
to suffer, without intermission, the 
tempests of jealousy, rage, madness, 
and obstinacy. '^ To marry a wise 
man to a fool is to bind the living to 
the dead.'' 

Marriage is a step to wisdom, holy 



Marriage. Ji 

and honorable, instituted by God 
Himself in paradise. Afterwards the 
Son of God approved it, and honored 
I a marriage with His presence, and 
there wrought His first miracle ; and 
; it serves for a sign of His union with 

;the Church. If the choice be good, 
and well ordered, there is nothing 
more beautiful. It is a sweet part- 
nership of life, full of constancy, 
trust, and mutual obligations. It is 

I a fellowship not only of love, but 
friendship. 

A social equality is very essential, 

\ and that equality whereby the wife 
IS called the companion of her hus- 
band, the mistress of her home, as 
the husband, the master and lord. 
Their joint authority over the fam- 
ily is compared to an aristocracy. 

It is a great happiness to live in 
peace, to have a companion a man 
may trust, and upon whom he can 
rely, and in order to do this he must 



72 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

choose one who is true and loyal 
and then bind her to do well, by the 
trust and confidence he gives. '^ Faith 
being given binds faith again/' 

There is nothing more beautiful 
than a household well and peaceably 
governed. Not difficult to have, but 
for the reason that the multitude 
of affairs, though they are of no 
great importance, annoy and weary 
a man. Domestic thorns prick, be- 
cause they are ordinary, and never 
at an end. 

In all cases the master and mis- 
tress must take care to conceal their 
ignorance and insufficiency in the 
affairs of the house, for if servants 
have an opinion that the master does 
not look after things, they may 
chance to make his hair grow through 
his hood. 

It has been said, a ducat in a 
man's purse will give him more^ 
honor than ten prodigally spent. 



Parents and Children. 73 

I PARENTS AND CHILDREN. 

' The duty of parents and children 
'is reciprocal. The carelessness of 
parents in the instruction of their 
'children is as great an evil as the 
ingratitude of children toward their 
'parents. Crates asked : *^ Why do 
imen take so much pains in heaping 
up riches, and so little care of those 
jto whom they will leave them ? " 
It is as if a man should take care of 
ihis shoe, and not of his foot. What 
Iwill he do with riches who is not 
jwise, and knows not how to use 
ithem ? Parents are doubly obliged 
'to attend to their duties, not only 
ibecause their children are tender 
ilplants, but the future hope of the 
Icommonwealth. There are some 
(Who take great pains to discover 
Ithe inclinations of children, and for 
what employment they seem best 
fitted, but this is too uncertain. 
Better give them instruction, good, 



74 A. Treatise on Wisdom. 

and profitable, by which they are 
fitted for any pursuit. This is sure 
ground. The advice we would give 
is, to carry ourselves worthily and 
happily ; and, with respect to the 
child, first, carefully to guard his 
soul, and keep it free from contagion 
and corruption of the world. To do 
this, one must diligently guard the 
gates, which are especially the ears, 
and then the eyes, that nothing evil 
comes near them. But a word is 
needed to make an evil almost past 
reparation. It was Plato's opinion 
that it was not right that servants 
and ignorant people should entertain 
children with their conversations, 
because their talk was vanity and 
foolishness, if not worse. 

The second advice concerns not 
only the persons who have charge of 
the child, but their manner of con- 
versation with him and the books he 
must read. Respecting the persons, 



Parents and Children. 75 

they must be honest men, well born, 
and of pleasing conversation, fuller 
of wisdom than science (learning), 
and agreeing in opinions, lest by- 
contrary counsels, or a different way 
of proceeding, one by rigor, the other 
by flattery, they retard each other 
and trouble their charge. Their 
communications must not be small 
and frivolous, but great, serious, no- 
ble, and generous, such as may rule 
and enrich the understanding, opin- 
ions, and manners. The child must 
be taught whajt to love, to fear, 
and to desire ; how he may judge 
between ambition and avarice, servi- 
tude and subjection. It is a mistake 
to think that a greater proportion of 
mind is required to understand his- 
tory than vain and frivolous dis- 
courses. That child who knows how 
many children his mother has, and 
who are his uncles and cousins, can 
easily remember how many kings 



76 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

there have been, and how many 
Caesars were in Rome. 

Let us carry ourselves towards chil- 
dren, not in an austere and severe man- 
ner, but sweetly, mildly, and cheer- 
fully, and make them in love with 
virtue, wisdom, science, and honesty. 
Imperious and rude treatment breeds 
in children a hatred and detestation 
for all that they should love, and 
takes away their courage. *' Parents 
provoke not your children to anger, 
lest they be discouraged.*' Blows 
are for beasts that do not understand 
reason, and one accustomed to them 
is marred forever. But reason, the 
beauty of action, the desire for hon- 
esty and honor, and the approbation 
of all men, and hatred of baseness, 
dishonor, and reproach, these are the 
arms and spurs of children well born. 
That which cannot be done by rea- 
son and wisdom, can be done by 
force but to small purpose. For 



Parents and Children. yj 

all this let no man think that I ap- 
prove of foolish indulgence, or fear 
to cause children sorrow ; that is an 
extreme as bad as the former. It is 
like those who are afraid to hold by 
the hair of the head one in danger 
of drowning for fear of hurting him, 
and so let him perish. 

Youth must be held in obedience 
and discipline, not bodily, like beasts 
and madmen, but a discipline spirit- 
ual, humane, liberal, and reasonable. 

We should advise in teaching, to 
exercise, sharpen, and form the mind. 
Strive as the aim of instruction more 
for wisdom than for science and art, 
rather to form the judgment, conse- 
quently the will and conscience, than 
to fill the memory, and inflame the 
imagination ; using reason, and mild 
persuasion rather than severity, which 
is the enemy to honor and true lib- 
erty. Learning and wisdom are very 
different, and wisdom is worth all the 



78 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

art and science in the world. It ex- 
ceeds learning as heaven surpasses 
earth. It is necessary and profitable 
to all ; active, noble, honest and gra- 
cious. Learning may make us more 
humane, more courteous, but not 
more honest ; it does not serve to 
sweeten our lives in ridding us of 
those evils that oppress us in the 
world, but on the contrary it increas- 
es and sharpens them. A wise man 
said that he that increases knowledge 
increases sorrow. 

Wisdom is the rule of the soul, a 
spiritual beauty, which guides the 
judgment, giving all things their just 
due. 

Do not mistake what I have said, 
or think me an enemy of erudition 
and learning. The evil is in the 
manner of study and ill instruction. 
Children learn from books and 
schools many excellent things with 
ill means and bad success, and all 



Parents and Children, 79 

their study profits them nothing, 
because they only care to stuff their 
memories. Presently they think 
themselves wise, remaining indi- 
gent and poor in the midst of their 
riches, and like Tantalus suffering 
with hunger surrounded by dainties; 
and so, with a* memory stuffed, they 
continue fools. As men they do not 
apply their learning, while in the time 
they employ with great pains heap- 
ing together what they can rob from 
other men, they allow their own 
good to fall to the ground and never 
put in practice their natural gifts. 
This counsel I would give : A man 
must not gather and keep the opin- 
ions and knowledge of another that 
he may report them or employ them 
for show or ostentation. He must 
use them so as to make them his 
own ; not only lodge them in his 
mind, but incorporate and transub- 
stantiate them into himself. He 



8o A Treatise on Wisdom. 

must not only refresh his mind with 
the dew of knowledge, but must 
make it essentially better, wiser, 
stronger, and more courageous, other- 
wise to what end does study serve ? 
Wisdom is not only to be acquired by 
us but to be enjoyed. Like the bees, 
who do not carry away the flowers, 
but settle upon them and draw from 
them their spirit and virtue, and 
nourishing themselves, afterwards 
make good and sweet honey, which 
is all their own, and is no more thyme 
or sweet marjoram ; so must man 
gather from books the marrow and 
spirit, never enthralling himself to 
retain the words by heart, and hav- 
ing drawn the good, feed his mind 
therewith, form his judgment, in- ♦ 
struct and direct his conscience and * 
opinions, and, in a word, make for * 
himself a work wholly his own — that | 
is to say, an honest man, wise and 
resolute. 



Parents and Children. 8 1 

There are two ways of teaching : 

; one by word, — that is, by precepts, in- 

I structions, lectures, and conversation 

with honest and able men, filing and 

refining our wits against theirs, as 

iron is cleansed and beautified by the 

file — the other by action, — that is, 

j by example, which is derived, not 

} only from good men by imitation, 

I but also from wicked ones by avoid- 

\ ing their errors, for there are some 

j who profit better by repugnance of 

I the evil they see in others. It is a 

special use of justice to condemn one 

I that he may serve for an example to 

others. And old Cato was wont to 

i say that wise men may learn more of 

j fools than fools of wise men. 

' This second means, or manner, in- 

i structs with more ease and pleasure. 

] To learn by precept is a long way. 

It IS hard to understand well what 

i we are thus taught, and, understand- 

I ing, to retain and practise it ; and 
6 



82 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

hardly can we promise ourselves to 
reap that fruit which is promised us. 
But example and imitation teach us 
beyond the work or action itself, 
stimulate us with more ardor, and 
promise us that glory which we see 
has been attained. Now these two 
means of profiting by speech and 
example are likewise twofold in the 
manner in which they are obtained, 
for they are drawn from intercourse 
with the living and reading the books 
of the dead. He who knows how to 
make use of books receives thereby 
great pleasure and comfort. He is 
eased of the burden of tedious idle- 
ness, occupied and kept from vain 
imaginations, and from outward 
things which vex and trouble. 

The spirit and manners of men 
conform themselves to those with 
whom they commonly converse. 

A teacher of youth must make his 
pupils speak and reason ; often ex- 



Parents and Children. 83 

amine them, ask their opinions of 
. whatever shall present itself, awaken 
\ their spirit by demands upon it, 
make them first give their opinions, 
and then grant them the same lib- 
erty to ask of others. If without 
questioning they are taught, it is in 
a manner labor lost, and the child is 
not profited ; he lends only his ears ; 
neither is it enough to have them 
give their opinions, they must main- 
tain them and be able to give a 
reason, and not speak by rote. 
Commend their endeavors and give 
^1 them encouragement. Although au- 
thorities may be given out of books, 
as the sayings of Cicero or Aristotle, 
yet it is not enough to recite them, 
they must judge of them, and so 
li frame and fashion them for use that 
they may be applied to other sub- 
jects. It is not enough to report as 
history that Cato killed himself rather 
than fall into the hands of Caesar; 



84 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

and that Brutus and Cassius were 
the authors of the death of Caesar; 
this IS the least. I would have judg- 
ment given, whether they did well 
or not, whether they deserved well 
of their country, or conducted them- 
selves according to wisdom, justice, 
or valor. Nothing must leave the 
hands before it has passed the judg- 
ment. *^ He who inquires after noth- 
ing, knows nothing.'* He who keeps 
not his mind busy, suffers it to rust. 
Fashion and mould the spirit to the 
pattern and model of the world and 
nature. Make it liberal, represent 
unto the youth all things, the uni- 
versal face of nature, that the whole 
world may be his book ; that what- 
ever subject is discussed he may cast 
his thought upon the immensity of 
the world, upon the different habits 
and opinions which have been and 
are in the world touching that sub- 



Parents and Children. 85 

ject. The most noble minds are the 
most liberal. Nothing does more 
deprave and enthrall the mind of 
man than to let him have and under- 
stand but one opinion, belief, and 
manner of life. 

What greater folly and weakness 
can there be than for a man to think 
all the world walks, lives, and dies 
\ according to his country ; like those 
blockheads who, when they hear of 
manners and opinions of foreign 
countries contrary to their own, 
either will not believe them or ab- 
surdly condemn them as barbarous 
— so much are they enthralled and 
tied to their cradle. A kind of peo- 
ple, as they say, brought up in a 
bottle, who never see anything but 

I\ through a hole. 
\ Let the scholar take nothing upon 
credit, but examine all things with 
reason, and then let him choose. 



86 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

THE BODY. 

After the mind comes the body, 
and care is likewise to be taken of it, 
at the same time with the spirit, both 
making the entire man. Keep the 
child from delicacy, and pride in 
apparel, in sleeping, eating and 
drinking ; accustom him to heat and 
cold ; harden his muscles, as well as 
his mind ; and make him lusty and 
vigorous. 

MANNERS. 

Concerning manners wherein both 
body and soul have a part, the ad- 
vice is twofold — to avert evil, and to 
ingraft and nourish the good. The 
first is the more necessary, and there- 
fore the greatest care must be taken, 
and it must be done in time, for 
there is no time too speedy to pre- 
vent the birth and growth of ill 
manners and faults which are to be 
feared in youth : as to lie, a base 



Manners. 87 

vice : bashfulness, which must be 
corrected by study ; all affectations 
and peculiarities in speech, gait, and 
gesture, which are a testimony of 
vanity and vainglory, and mar all 
that is good. 

Never allow children to have their 
own way by such means as anger, 
sullenness, or obstinacy ; they should 
learn that these are qualities alto- 
gether useless and unprofitable. 

Ingraft in them good and honest 
manners; and first instruct them to 
fear and reverence God, to speak 
seldom and soberly of Him, of His 
power, eternity, wisdom, will, and 
all His works, not indifferently, and 
upon all occasions, but with rever- 
ence ; not to be overscrupulous in 
the mysteries and points of religion, 
but to conform to the government 
and discipline of the Church. Teach 
them to cherish candor, modesty, 
and integrity, and to be honest, out 



88 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

of an honorable and honest mind, 
not from fear, or through hope of 
honor, or profit, or other considera- 
tion than virtue itself. 

We know that affection is recipro- 
cal and natural between parents and 
children, but that of parents toward 
their children is far the stronger. 
That of children seems rather the 
payment of a debt and a thankful 
acknowledgment for a benefit re- 
ceived than a purely natural love. 
Moreover, he who gives and does 
good to another loves more than 
he who receives and is indebted : 
those things are most beloved which 
cost us most ; that is dearest to us 
which we come most dearly by ; and 
to nourish and bring up children 
is a greater charge than to receive 
these benefits. 

True and fatherly love is shown 
in wise governing. Parents should 
receive their children into their soci- 



Manners. 89 

ety, and if capable, when they are 
old enough, into partnership in their 
wealth ; admit them to their coun- 
sel, contribute to their recreation 
and pastimes, win their confidence 
and opinions. We condemn the aus- 
tere and imperious carriage of those 
who never look upon children, or 
speak to them except with authority. 
Parents should form their minds to 
duty by reason, and not have re- 
course to means more tyrannical than 
fatherly. God himself refuses not 
the name of Father. 

The duty of children toward their 
parents is natural and religious ; it is 
so certain that it cannot be dispensed 
with for any other duty or love, be 
it ever so great. If it shall happen 
that a man sees his father and his 
sor in danger at the same time, and 
cannot rescue both, he must forsake 
the son and go to his father though 
his love for his son is greater. And 



90 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

the reason is because the duty of a 
son towards his father is the more 
ancient and can be abrogated by no 
other. Now this duty consists of 
five points comprehended in these 
words : '* Honor thy father and thy 
mother." The first is reverence, 
which is that high and holy esteem 
which children ought to have for 
their parents. The second is obedi- 
ence. The third is to succor parents 
in all their needs, and to care for 
them in their old age. We have an 
example of this in the brute king- 
dom, for the little ones of the stork, 
as St. Basil afifirms, feed and care for 
the old mother, and couple them- 
selves together to carry her on their 
backs, love teaching them this art ; 
and for this cause the Hebrews call 
this bird Chasida^ that is to say, the 
charitable bird. 

Fourth, children should not at- 
tempt anything of importance with- 



Masters and Servants. 9 1 

out the advice, consent, and appro- 
bation of parents. Fifth, mildly 
and gently to endure their vices, 
imperfections, and severity. A child 
will not find these duties difficult if 
he consider how much care he has 
been, and with what affection he has 
been brought up. 

MASTERS AND SERVANTS. 

The use of slaves and the absolute 
power of lords and masters over 
them is monstrous and ignominious 
in the nature of man ; and is not 
found among beasts. There are slaves 
born, and those made by war, volun- 
tary ones who sell their liberty for 
money, and in some parts of Chris- 
tendom those that give and vow 
themselves to another for ever. This 
voluntary captivity is the strangest 
of all, and most against nature. 

The duty of masters toward their 
servants as well as slaves (inferior 



92 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

servants) is, not to treat them un- 
kindly, remembering they are men 
and of the same nature as themselves, 
and only fortune has made a differ- 
ence which is very variable, amusing 
itself by making great m.en small 
and small great. Therefore the dif- 
ference is not so wide. Treat them 
kindly, seeking rather to be beloved 
than feared. Instruct them with 
religious counsel and those things 
requisite for their health and safety. 
The duty of servants is to honor 
their masters and yield them obedi- 
ence and fidelity, not only outwardly 
and for reward, but heartily, seri- 
ously, for conscience* sake, and with- 
out dissimulation. 

THE KECESSITIES OF THE STATE. 

Having spoken of private author- 
ity, we come to public power, that 
of the state, which is rule, domin- 
ion, or a certain order in command- 



The Necessities of the State. 93 

ing and obeying, that is the prop, 
cement, and soul of human things, a 
vital point. It is the bond of society, 
which cannot otherwise subsist. It 
is the universal spirit, whereby so 
many millions of men breathe. 

Greatness and power are so much 
desired because all the good there is 
in them appears outwardly, and the 
ill is altogether inward. To com- 
mand others is a thing as difficult as 
it is great, as beautiful as it is divine. 
The title of ruler (the outward dis- 
play) is gratifying and pleasant, but 
the burden inside is hard and irk- 
some. It is an honorable servitude, 
a noble misery, a rich captivity. But 
how often are these rulers less quali- 
fied by nature than those beneath 
them. The same appetites move a 
fly and an elephant. Can it be other 
than a great burden to govern people, 
since in ruling one's self there is so 
much difficulty? It is easier and 



' ? 



94 ^ Treatise on Wisdom, 

more pleasant to follow than to 
guide, to obey than to command, 
and it is required that he who com- 
mands must be a better man than he 
who is commanded. The first thing 
required is the knowledge of the 
state. The first of all things is to 
know with whom a man has to deal. 
After this knowledge virtue is re- 
quired, as necessary in a ruler as in 
the state. Cyrus said : ** It is a first 
necessity that he who is above all 
should be better than all/' For com- 
mon report gathers and spreads 
abroad the actions and speeches of 
him who governs. He is in the eye 
of all, and can no more hide himself 
than the sun, and therefore what- 
ever good or ill he does will be talked 
of. Now the eyes of the lesser are 
always upon the great, and it is im- 
portant for him and his people that 
a ruler should respect himself as well 
as the state, and that his subjects 



The Necessities of the State. 95 

have a good opinion of him. Belief 
in a sovereign is the nurse of peace 
and quietness. We do not need 
commands as much as examples. 
There are four princely virtues, 
piety, justice, valor, and clemency. 
The piety of a ruler consists in his 
care for the maintenance and preser- 
vation of religion. This redounds 
to his own honor and security. It 
is religion that maintains human 
society. If the fear and respect 
for it did not bridle and keep men in 
order, all manner of wickedness and 
cruelties would exist. Great person- 
ages are beset by three kinds of peo- 
ple, flatterers, inventors of imposts 
or tributes, and informers, who, un- 
der the pretext of zeal and friendship, 
or loyalty and reformation, would 
ruin both ruler and country. 

Seneca said, " Trust makes way for 
the treacherous to do mischief.** It 
is necessary therefore that one cover 



96 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

himself with this buckler of distrust, 
which the wisest have thought to be 
a great part of prudence and wisdom. 

Trust but few and those known 
by long experience. Open distrust 
wrongs and invites as much deceit 
as an overcareless confidence, for 
many by showing too much fear 
of being deceived show how they 
may be. 

A ruler must be just, keeping 
well and inviolably his faith, the 
foundation wall of justice. Then he 
must insist that his justice be main- 
tained in others, for it is his proper 
charge, and for that purpose he is 
installed. 

Clemency, a princely virtue, is 
mildness and leniency. It lessens 
and qualifies the rigor of justice with 
judgment and discretion. It mod- 
erates and sweetly manages all things, 
forgives those who are faulty, rescues 
those who are fallen, and saves those 



The Necessities of the State. 97 

who are nearly lost. It is in a ruler 
what humanity is in a subject. It 
is contrary to cruelty and extreme 
rigor, not to justice, from which it 
does not so much differ, but softens 
and moderates it. One beloved will 
do more through love than through 
fear. 

The liberality of a ruler which con- 
sists in tax and show serves to small 
purpose. No credit is gained from 
display made through excessive tax- 
ation, for to the spectators of these 
triumphs it seems that they feed 
their eyes at the expense of their 
stomachs. A ruler should think 
that he has nothing wholly his own. 
That liberality is more commendable 
which consists in bestowing gifts, 
but even in this he must be well 
advised, giving to those who deserve 
it and have been of service to the 
country. 

Liberality likewise must be spun 



't 



98 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

with a gentle thread, little by little, 
and not all together, for that which 
is done speedily is soon forgotten. 
Pleasant things must be done with 
ease and leisure, that one may have 
time to enjoy them. Things rude 
and cruel (if they must needs be 
done) should be executed quickly. 
A prodigal ruler is worse than a 
covetous one, but well ordered liber- 
ality is profitable both to ruler and 
state. 

Magnanimity and courage become 
a ruler. He has need of faithful 
friends- to be his assistants. Great 
burdens have need of great help. 
He must provide himself with good 
counsel and such men as know how 
to give it. These are his true 
treasures. 

Counsellors must be first faithful. 
The two greatest philosophers have 
said that it is a sacred and divine 
thing to deliberate well and to give 



The Necessities of the State, 99 

good counsel. They must be skilled 
in state affairs, experienced and 
tried. They must be wise and pru- 
dent, not impulsive, for such men 
are too easily moved. '^ These fiery 
wits are more fit for innovation than 
administration.*' (Curtius.) It is 
necessary in giving good counsel to 
be courageous, without flattery, am- 
biguity, or design, not sparing the 
truth but speaking what is just and 
necessary. For although liberty of 
speech and fidelity hurt and offend 
for a time, yet afterwards they are 
reverenced and esteemed. 

The Emperor Julian once said to 
his courtiers who had commended 
him for his justice, " Perhaps I should 
be proud of these praises, if they 
were spoken by those who dared to 
accuse me, and to censure my actions 
when they deserved it.'' A ruler 
must be without opinionative obsti- 
nacy and a spirit of contradiction. 



^1 



lOO A Treatise on Wisdom. 

which trouble and hinder all good 
deliberation ; he must sometimes 
change his opinion, which is not 
inconstancy, but prudence. 

For a wise man does not always 
go by the same way, but as a good 
mariner who trims his sails according 
to the wind and tide, he will often 
turn and arrive at a place obliquely 
when he cannot do it directly and 
by a straight line. A counsellor 
must not be influenced by passion, 
envy, avarice, or private interest, the 
deadly poison of judgment and good 
understanding. He must avoid pre- 
sumptuous confidence and precipita- 
tion, which are the enemies of all 
good counsel. A wise man considers 
and reconsiders, weighing all that 
might happen, that he may execute 
with boldness. 

Again, to keep secret, counsels 
and deliberations is very necessary 
in the management of affairs. *^ Great 



The Necessities of the State. loi 

affairs cannot be sustained by him 
who cannot be secret/' (Curtius.) 
Secrecy is the soul of counsel. 

Now a ruler must make choice of 
such good counsellors, either from 
his own knowledge and judgment, 
or, if he cannot do so, by their repu- 
tation, which seldom deceives, as 
one of them once said to his Prince : 
" Hold us for what we are esteemed 
to be." Let him take heed that he 
choose not his favorites, and having 
chosen his counsellors, let him wisely 
make use of them. After counsel 
we place treasure — a great power ; 
the sinews, the feet and hands of 
the state. There is no sword so 
sharp or penetrating as silver, no 
master so imperious, no orator that 
so wins the hearts and wills of men 
as riches, and therefore a ruler must 
provide that his treasury never fails. 
To increase the income there are 
divers means and various resources : 



I02 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

the revenue of the country; which 
must be used and managed without 
alienating it ; conquests from an 
enemy, which must be profitably 
employed, not prodigally dissipated ; 
the entrance and clearing of mer- 
chandise into various ports ; a tax 
upon foreigners as well as upon sub- 
jects, a means just, lawful, ancient, 
and general ; not to permit the 
traffic or transportation of the neces- 
saries of life, nor of raw or un- 
wrought wares, to the end that the 
subject may have work and gain the 
profit of his own labor ; but to permit 
the exportation of manufactured 
articles and the bringing in of raw 
material, but not of the wrought 
or manufactured ; and in all things 
to charge the stranger more than 
the subject ; for a foreign duty in- 
creases the treasury and enriches 
the country ; to moderate, neverthe- 
less, the imposts upon those things 



Wars. 



[03 



which are brought in necessary for 
life. 

^SATARS. 

A man must arm himself against 
war to the end that it may not 
trouble him. '' He who desires peace, 
let him provide for war.*' 

War has its laws and ordinances 
as well as peace. First it must be 
just, for justice is as much before 
valor as deliberation is before exe- 
cution. God favors just wars, and 
gives the victory to whom He 
pleases, and therefore we must make 
ourselves worthy this favor by the 
justice of the enterprise, and above 
all avoid am.bition, avarice, and 
anger. 

** Wise men wage war for the sake 
of peace and sustain labor in hope 
of rest.*' In war there is more need 
of hands than of names. There 
must be care in the choice of men ; 



I04 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

the best soldier is not the merce- 
nary adventurer, but he who has the 
good of his country at heart. He 
is more patient, more obedient and 
courageous. Victory does not consist 
in numbers, but in force and valor. 

After choice comes discipline, for 
it is not enough to have chosen 
those who are capable and likely to 
prove good soldiers. Nature makes 
few men valiant, it is good instruc- 
tion and discipline that do it. 
Now the principal point of disci- 
pline is obedience, and a soldier must 
fear his captain more than an enemy. 
Soldiers are the body, captains and 
leaders the soul, or life of an army. 
True valor stirs not the tongue, but 
the hands ; does not talk, but exe- 
cutes ; great talkers are small doers. 

There is nothing in war that must 
be despised, and many times that 
which seems of small moment often 
yields great results. 



Wars. 105 

Victory must not be stained with 
insolence, but accepted modestly; 
one needs to remember the per- 
petual flux and reflux of this world 
and the alternating of prosperity 
and adversity. 

** Fortune is brittle and slippery ; 
when it shines it breaks/' 

To the vanquished, wisdom is 
necessary to consider his loss at its 
worst, and afterwards with a good 
courage to renew his strength and 
hope for better fortune ; it is better 
to die with honor than live in dis- 
honor. There is a question whether 
stratagem or courage is the more 
requisite in war. Alexander would 
take no advantage of the obscurity 
of the night, saying he liked not 
thieving victories ; " I had rather be 
sorry for my fortune than victory 
should shame me.'' 

*' Security is the most common 
beginning of calamity." Fortune 



io6 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

and success turn the mind of a 
noble and generous conqueror from 
wrath to mercy 

LAWYERS, DOCTORS, TEACHERS. 

It is one of the vanities and follies 
of man to prescribe laws and rules 
that exceed the use and capacity of 
men, as some philosophers and teach- 
ers have done. They propose strange 
and exalted forms of life, so difficult 
and austere that the practice of them 
is impossible for any time, and the 
attempt even dangerous to many. 
These are castles in the air, as the 
commonwealth of Plato, beautiful 
and worthy imaginations ; but the 
man has never yet been found that 
put them in practice. The Sovereign 
and perfect Lawgiver took heed of 
this, who in Himself, His life and 
doctrine, did not seek these extrava- 
gant forms beyond the common 
capabilities of men ; and therefore 



The Vulgar Sort. loj 

He called His yoke easy and His 
burden light. They who have insti- 
tuted and ordered their society under 
His name have very wisely con- 
sidered the matter, and though they 
make special profession of virtue 
and devotion, and to serve the public 
weal above all others, nevertheless 
they differ very little in their manner 
of living from the ordinary and 
civil life. 

Many times these goodly law- 
makers, are the first law-breakers, for 
they often do quite the contrary to 
that which they require of others. 
Reason is the life of the law. 

THE VULGAR SORT. 

The people we call the vulgar sort 
are strange creatures, inconstant and 
variable, who love confusion and go 
to war without judgment, reason, or 
discretion. ** It is the custom of the 
vulgar sort to despise the present, 



io8 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

desire the future, and praise and ex- 
tol that which is past/* They are 
malicious, envious, and treacherous, 
wishing all ill to those who are well 
and honorably spoken of. They 
care neither for public good nor com- 
mon honesty. *' Every one has his 
private spur.** They are monsters 
who have nothing but a mouth, 
tongues which cease not ; they speak 
all things but know nothing, they 
look upon all but see nothing. 
Show them the cudgel and they will 
admire you, do good to them and 
they will despise you. The vulgar 
multitude is the mother of igno- 
rance, vanity, injustice, and idola- 
try ; their mot is, *' The voice of 
the people is the voice of God,** 
but we may say, " The voice of 
the people is the voice of fools.** 
Now the beginning of wisdom, is 
for a man to keep himself clear 
and free, and not allow himself 



Nobility. 109 

to be carried away with popular 
opinions. 

NOBILITY. 

Nobility is a quality not common 
everywhere, but honorable, and 
rightly esteemed for its public util- 
ity. According to the general and 
common opinion, it is a quality of 
race or stock. Aristotle says that it 
is the antiquity of a race and of 
riches. Plutarch calls it the virtue 
of a race, meaning a certain habit 
and quality continued by descent. 
What this quality is all do not agree 
saving in this that it is profitable to 
the common weal, for to some and 
the greater part it is military, to 
others political, literary to the 
learned and palatine to those at- 
tached to the service of the prince. 
But military nobility is accounted 
most worthy, for besides its service 
to the country it is painful, labori- 



no A Treatise on Wisdom. 

ous and dangerous, and so by excel- 
lency it carries the title of valor. A 
long continuance of this quality by 
many degrees and races makes what 
is called a gentleman ; that is to say, 
of a race, house, family, carrying 
for a long time the same name and 
profession. For he is truly and 
entirely noble who makes a special 
profession of public virtue, serving 
his prince and country, and who is 
descended from parents, and ances- 
tors, that have done the same. 
There are some who separate these 
two conditions and think that one 
of them is sufficient for true no- 
bility. If we compare the two, that 
which is natural or on account of 
birth is the least, though many out 
of their vanity think otherwise. 
** I scarce account those things ours 
which descend from our ancestors, 
or anything which we ourselves have 
not accomplished ; no man has lived 



Nobility. 1 1 1 

J for our glory. Neither are we to 
i account that ours which has been 

before us/' 
i What greater folly can there be 
than to glory in that which is not 
\ our own. They who have nothing 
\ commendable in themselves but this 
a nobility of flesh and blood make 
much of it, have it in their mouths, 
\ and it is the mark by which they are 
\ known and a sign they have nothing 
^ else. What good is it to a blind 
^ man that his parents had excellent 
sight, or to him who stammers, that 
\ his grandfather was eloquent? 

Personal and acquired honor has 
conditions altogether contrary, its 
nobility consists in good and profit- 
able effects, not in dreams and imagi- 
\ nations. "' A mind well disposed to 
\ virtue makes him noble, who, upon 
what accident or condition soever, 
is able to raise himself above for- 
tune." (Seneca.) Natural and ac- 



112 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

quired nobility are very often and 
willingly found together, and so 
make a perfect honor. For a man 
to know that he has sprung from 
honorable ancestors, and such as 
have deserved well of their country, 
is a strong obligation and spur to 
the exploits of virtue. It is a foul 
thing to degenerate and belie a 
man's own race. 

HONOR. 

Some say that honor is the price 
and recompense of virtue or the 
prerogative of a good opinion. It is 
a privilege which draws its principal 
essence from virtue. It has also 
been called the shadow of virtue, 
which sometimes goes before as the 
shadow of the body, and sometimes 
follows. But to speak truly, it is 
the rumor of a beautiful and virtu- 
ous action which rebounds from a 
man's soul to the view of the world, 



Ho7ior. 1 1 3 

and reflecting him, brings him the 
testimony of that which others be- 
lieve of him. 

But the question is, what are the 
actions to which honor is due ? It 
is generally due to those who per- 
form their duty in whatever belongs 
to their profession, although it may 
be neither a famous nor profitable 
one ; as he who upon the stage plays 
the part of a servant well is no less 
commended than he who represents 
the person of a king, and he who 
cannot work on statues of gold, may 
show the perfection of his art even 
in earth and leather. All cannot 
be called to manage great affairs, 
but all deserve commendation who 
do what they have to do, well. 

The marks of honor are various, 
\ but the best and most beautiful are 
i those which are without profit and 
gain. It happens sometimes that it 
is a greater honor not to have the 



114 ^ Treatise on Wisdom. 

marks of honor having deserved 
them, than to have them ; as Cato 
said, ** It is more honorable to me, 
that every man should ask me why 
I have not a statue erected in the 
market-place, than they should ask 
me why I have it/* Honor is so 
much esteemed and sought after 
that a man will undertake and en- 
dure almost anything to attain it, re- 
garding it even more than life itself. 
Nevertheless it is a matter of small 
moment, uncertain and a stranger to 
him that is honored. It does not 
enter a man, nor is it essential to 
him ; it stays without and rests in 
his name, which carries all the honor 
and dishonor. So that a man is said 
to have either a good name or a bad 
one. All the good or evil that can 
be said of Caesar is carried in his 
name. Now the name is nothing of 
the nature and substance of the 
thing, it is only the image which 



Science or Learning. 115 

presents it, the mark which dis- 
tinguishes it from others. Whatso- 
ever valor, worth, and perfection the 
thing has in itself inwardly, if it 
produces nothing good it is incapa- 
ble of honor, and is as if it were not. 

SCIENCE OR LEARNINO. 

Learning is a beautiful ornament 
and very profitable to those who 
know how to use it, but in what 
rank to place it, or how to prize it, 
all are not of one opinion, and there- 
fore commit two contrary faults ; 
some by esteeming it too highly, 
others too little. For my part, I 
place it beneath honesty, sanctity, 
wisdom, and virtue, and yet dare 
rank it with dignity, natural nobility, 
and military valor, and think they 
may well dispute the precedence. 

As sciences are different in their 
subjects and matter, so are they in 
their utility, honesty, and necessity. 



1 1 6 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

and also in their gain and glory. 
Some sciences are theoretical, con- 
cerned only with speculations. Others 
are realistic, consisting in the search 
after the knowledge of things that 
are without us, whether they are 
natural or supernatural. Again some 
are particular, teaching the tongue 
to speak, the mind to reason ; while 
others are practical and concerned 
with action. 

Those sciences which have most 
honesty and utility, and least glory, 
vanity, and mercenary gain, are to 
be preferred to all others ; and the 
practical, such as moral science and 
political economy, which respect the 
good of man, are absolutely the best ; 
teaching him to live well, to die 
well, to command and obey well ; 
and diligently to be studied by all 
who desire to be wise. After these 
comes natural science ; an aid to the 
knowledge of whatever is in the 



Science or Learning. 1 1 7 

world fit for our use, and likewise 
teaching us to admire the great- 
ness, goodness, wisdom, and power 
of the Creator. All others are 
vain, and to be studied cautiously. 
St. Paul's advice is : ^^ Beware lest 
any man spoil you through philos- 
ophy." 

Learning which is acquired is an 
accumulation, a storing up of the 
good of another — that is, a collection 
of all that a man has seen, heard, 
and read in books. Now the garner 
and storehouse where this provision 
is kept, the treasury of science and 
all acquired good, is the memory. 
He who has a good memory, the 
fault is his own if he lacks knowledge, 
for he has the key to it. 

Knowledge is the wealth of the 
spirit. 

A wise man lives upon his own 
revenue, for wisdom is properly a 
man's own. 



1 1 8 A Treatise on Wisdom^ 

DESIRINO W^ISDOM. 

A man aspiring to wisdom should 
above all things know himself, — a 
difficult matter, for every one de- 
lights to deceive, rob, hide, and be- 
tray himself, flattering and tickling 
himself to make himself laugh, ex- 
cusing his defects, and setting a high 
value upon the little good he has, 
winking continually lest he should 
too clearly see his own acts. Now 
he who would be truly wise must 
always suspect whatever seems to 
please the greater number of people ; 
he must look into and judge what is 
good and true in itself and not be 
borne along by the multitude, for 
the worst thing that can be said of 
a man is that the whole world ap- 
proves of him. Once Phocion, seeing 
the people highly applaud something 
he had said, turned to his friends 
who stood by him and asked, '' Has 
any folly unwittingly escaped my 



Desiring Wisdom. iig 

mouth, or any loose or wicked word, 
that all these people do approve 
me ? '' 

Yet if you are not of the world, 
the world will hate you. 

We must as much as possible pre- 
serve ourselves from the judgment 
and opinions of the illiterate and ill- 
disposed, and without any stir keep 
our own opinions and thoughts to 
ourselves, remaining in the world 
without being of it. 

* ' I rather choose to seem a fool with ease, 
Than to be wise indeed, and yet displease." 

We should beware of spiritual lep- 
rosy which comes from not taking 
a proper interest in the affairs of life, 
and of growing too fond of ourselves. 
A wise man will never undertake 
more than he can accomplish ; he will 
remember that to carry a burden it 
is necessary to have more strength 
than burden ; but if it happen that by 



1 20 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

accident or imprudence he should be 
engaged in a vocation distasteful to 
him, and see no escape, it is the part 
of wisdom to resolve to bear it and 
to adapt himself to it as much as pos- 
sible ; like bees, who from thyme, a 
sharp and dry herb, gather sweet 
honey, and, as the proverb is, make a 
virtue of necessity. 

Wisdom is a regular managing of 
the soul, a sweet harmony of our 
judgment, will, and manners, and a 
constant health of mind ; whereas 
the passions, on the contrary, are the 
furious outbursts and rebounds of 
folly. Passions are more easily 
avoided than moderated. We can 
guide in the beginning, and hold 
them at our mercy, but once thor- 
oughly aroused they carry us. 

All things at their birth are feeble 
and tender. In their weakness we 
do not discover the danger, and in 
their full growth and strength know 



Desiring Wisdom. 121 

not how to withstand them ; as we 
often see when men who have entered 
easily and lightly into quarrels, law, 
and contentions are forced to settle 
as best they can. 

In all our dealings with men, we 
must be prudent from the beginning. 
^'Undertake coldly, pursue ardently.** 

The true privilege of a wise and 
active man is, to judge of all things, 
not to be bound to any, but to be 
ready and open to all opinions. 

In all the outward and common 
actions of life, a man should accom- 
modate himself to custom, but with- 
out determination, affirmation, or 
condemnation of the ideas of others ; 
always ready to entertain better 
opinions if they arise, and not of- 
fended with those who differ from 
him. Let him rather desire to hear 
what may be said, that he may exer- 
cise his judgment and search for 
truth. 



122 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

Since there are a thousand lies for 
one truth, a thousand opinions of 
one and the same thing, and but one 
that is true, why should we not ex- 
amine with the instrument of reason, 
which is the best, the most honest, 
and most profitable. 

LIBERTY OF SPIRIT AND JUDOMENT. 

Is it possible that among so many 
laws, customs, opinions, and man- 
ners that are in the world contrary 
to our own, there are none good 
but ours ? Has all the world besides 
been mistaken ? And who doubts 
others think not the same of us. 
The wise man will judge all ; nothing 
shall escape him. 

What can a holy man have above 
the profane, if his spirit, mind, and 
principles are in slavery ? 

They shall govern as long as they 
will my hand, and my tongue, but 



Liberty of Spirit, 123 

not my spirit, for that, by their leave, 
has another master. 

He who would bridle the spirit of 
man is a great tyrant. 

Now a wise man will carry himself 
outwardly, for public reverence and 
in a manner to offend no one, ac- 
cording to the law, custom, and cere- 
mony of the country ; but inwardly 
he will judge of the truth as it is 
according to reason, and many times 
he may condemn that which he out- 
wardly does. For example, in all 
humility I take off my hat and keep 
my head uncovered before my supe- 
rior, for the custom of my country 
requires it, but yet I have leave to 
judge that the custom of the East is 
far better, to salute and do reverence 
by laying the hand upon the breast 
without uncovering the head to the 
detriment of the health. 

If I were in the East, I would take 
my repast sitting upon the ground or 



124 ^ Treatise on Wisdom. 

leaning upon my elbow, or half 
lying, looking upon the table side- 
ways, as they do there, and yet I 
should not cease to judge the man- 
ner of sitting upright at table, my 
face toward it, as our custom is, 
the more comfortable and preferable. 
These are examples of small weight, 
and there are many like them. Take 
another of more importance. I yield 
my consent that the dead shall be in- 
terred and left to the mercy of the 
worm, because it is now the common 
custom almost everywhere, but I 
cease not to judge that the ancient 
manner of burning bodies, and 
gathering together the ashes, is 
more noble and cleanly. Religion 
itself teaches and commands to dis- 
pose of all things after this manner, 
as of that which was not eaten of the 
paschal lamb and the consecrated 
host ; and why should not our bodies 
be treated with like respect? What 



Liberty of Spirit, 125 

can be more dishonorable to a body 
than to cast it into the earth, there 
I to corrupt? It seems to me to be 
^ the utmost punishment that can be 
- inflicted upon infamous persons and 
offenders ; honest and honorable men 
should be treated with more respect. 
, A wise man considers calmly and 
j without passion all things, is not 
j obstinate, but always ready to re- 
j ceive the truth, or what seems to have 
j the best semblance of truth. There is 
i nothing certain, nothing in nature 
I but doubt, nothing certain but uncer- 
tainty. ** The only thing certain is, 
that nothing is certain. This one 
' thing know I, that I know nothing.'' 
Truth and falsehood enter us by 
1 the same gate, hold the same place 
1 and credit,, and maintain themselves 
I by the same means. 

There is no one opinion held by 
all, none that is not disputed, none 
of which the contrary is not main- 



126 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

tained. It is the doctrine and prac- 
tice of the greatest philosophers, 
dogmatists, and affirmers to doubt, 
inquire, and search, giving to all 
things no stronger title than proba- 
bility and possibility ; by problemati- 
cal questions, rather inquiring than 
instructing. ** They will seem not so 
much to think what they say as to 
exercise their wits with the difficulty 
of the matter '' ; solacing their spirits 
with pleasant and subtle inventions, 
'* which they rather feign wittily 
than know skilfully/' 

Aristotle, the most decided, the 
Prince of dogmatists and peremp- 
tory affirmers, the god of pedants, 
how often has he been crossed 
in his opinions ? Not knowing 
how to explain the question of the 
soul, — a point where he is almost 
always unlike himself, — and in other 
things he did not understand, we 
find him ingenuously confessing at 



Liberty of Spirit 127 

times the great weakness of man in 
finding and knowing the truth. 

Opposed to this academical staid- 
ness there are others who glory in 
their obstinate opinions, whether 
they are right or wrong ; preferring 
violent opposition, against which 
they may exercise their wit and 
skill, to peaceful discussion with a 
man who, doubtful, reserves his 
judgment. 

** God knows the thought of man 
how vain it is.'' Why should it not 
be as lawful to doubt, to hold in 
suspense what we are not assured of, 
as it is to affirm ? How shall we be 
capable of knowing more or discov- 
ering how little we know if we grow 
firm in our opinions, if we settle and 
rest ourselves in certain things, and 
in such a manner that we seek no 
further, nor examine that which we 
think we hold ? Some consider this 
doubt a shame and weakness, be- 



128 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

cause they do not perceive what it 
is, nor that the greatest men have 
made confession of it. They blush 
and have not the heart to say 
frankly, I know not, because they 
are possessed with the presumption 
of learning. They do not know that 
there is a kind of ignorance and doubt 
more learned, more noble and gen- 
erous, than all their certainty. It is 
that which has made Socrates so 
renowned, and held for the wisest of 
men. It is the science of sciences 
and the fruit of all our studies. It 
is the modest, mild, innocent, and 
hearty acknowledgment of the mys- 
tical height of truth and the poverty 
of our human condition. 

Here I would tell you that I 
caused to be engraved over the gate 
of my little house, which I built at 
Condom, in the year 1600, these 
words, ** I know not.'' 

He who thinks he knows some- 



Liberty of Spirit. 129 

thing knows not yet what he ought 
to know. 

It is not the truth and nature of 
things that stir and trouble us, but 
opinions. The truth does not enter 
or lodge in us by its own strength 
and authority, for if it were so all 
things would be received alike, 
after the same manner and with 
equal credit, as truth is always uni- 
form. 

The world is led by opinion, that 
which I believe I cannot make 
another accept, and that which I 
firmly believe to-day I cannot assure 
myself I shall believe to-morrow. 
How often has time made us see we 
have been deceived in our thoughts, 
and forced us to change our opinion. 

To keep the mind in peace and 
tranquillity, free from agitations, 
ambition, presumption, and obsti- 
nacy in opinion (which cause sects, 
heresies, and seditions), does more 
9 



1 30 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

service to religion and Divine opera- 
tion than anything else. 

God has created in man a desire 
to know the truth ; and the better 
to prepare ourselves for this revela- 
tion, and to receive His Holy Spirit, 
we must cleanse and purify our 
thoughts, be free from opinions, be- 
lief, and affections, dead to self and 
the world, that God may live and 
work in us. 

** Purge the old leaven, and put off the old man." 

And so it would seem an excellent 
method in introducing Christianity 
among the heathen to begin with 
these propositions : that all the wis- 
dom of the world is but vanity; 
that the world is torn and unsettled 
by the fanatic opinions of man's 
brain ; that God has created man 
to know the truth, but that he can- 
not know it by any human means; 



Universality of Spirit 1 3 1 

that It is necessary that God Him- 
self, in whom it dwells, should reveal 
it as He does. And to prepare him- 
self for this revelation, man must 
first renounce all opinions and be- 
liefs with which the mind is already- 
preoccupied, and offer himself pure 
and ready to receive it. Having 
gained this point, it is necessary to 
present the principles of Christianity 
as sent from heaven, brought by that 
Perfect Messenger of the Divinity, 
confirmed by so many proofs and 
testimonies. So in this modest de- 
lay of opinion we see a great means 
to true piety, not only to receive it, 
but to preserve it. 

UNIVERSALITY OF SPIRIT. 

A wise man views and considers 
the whole universe ; he is a citizen of 
the world, like Socrates, and holds in 
his affections all humanity. He sees 
like the sun with an equal and indif- 



132 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

ferent regard, and, as from a watch- 
tower, all the changes and course of 
things; not changing himself, but 
remaining always the same ; which 
is the livery of the Divinity and the 
high privilege of a wise man. 

Partiality is an enemy to liberty, 
and overrules the mind so that it 
cannot judge aright. To better at- 
tain this universality of spirit, this 
general impartiality, we must con- 
sider these points : the great in- 
equality and difference of men, in 
their nature, form, and condition ; the 
diversity of laws, customs, manners, 
and religions ; the different opinions 
and reasonings of the philosophers 
concerning unity and plurality, the 
eternal and temporal, the beginning 
and end and the duration of time. 
The Egyptian priests told Herodotus 
that, since their first king, the sun 
had changed his course four times. 
The Chaldeans, in the time of 



Universality of Spirit. 133 

Diodorus, had a register of seven 
thousand years. Plato said they of 
the city of Sais had memorials in 
writing of eight thousand years, and 
that the city of Athens was built 
a thousand years before the city of 
Sais. Zoroaster and others affirmed 
that Socrates lived six thousand 
years before Plato. Others have said 
that the world has been from all 
time ; and great philosophers have 
held the world for a god, made by 
another greater than it ; or, as Plato 
and others argue, that from the 
motions it is a creature composed 
of a body and of a soul, — the soul 
lodging in the centre, disposing and 
spreading itself by musical numbers 
into all parts ; and that the heavens 
and the stars are composed of bodies 
and a soul, — mortal by reason of 
their composition, immortal by the 
decree and determination of the 
Creator. According to ancient and 



134 -^ Treatise on Wisdom. 

most authentic writings, and founded 
upon reason, there are many v/orlds ; 
in this world there is nothing alone, 
but all kinds multiplied in numbers, 
and it does not seem to have a sem- 
blance of truth that God made this 
world only and without a companion. 

By what we have learned of the 
discovery of the new world, the East 
and West Indies, we see that some 
ancient writers have been deceived, 
thinking to have found the measure 
of the habitable earth, for now be- 
hold another world almost like our 
own ; and who will doubt but that 
in time there will be yet others dis- 
covered. If Ptolemy and other 
ancient writers have been deceived, 
why should not he also be who 
affirms to the contrary ? 

Secondly, we see that the zones 
which were thought uninhabitable 
from their excessive heat and cold 
are habitable. 



Universality of Spirit 135 

Thirdly, in these new countries 
we find that almost all things which 
we esteem so much, holding that 
they were first revealed and sent 
from heaven, have been commonly 
believed and observed ; many of 
them were in use a thousand years 
before we had any tidings of them, 
both in the matter of religion, — as 
the belief in one Father of us all, of 
the universal deluge, of one God who 
once lived in the form of man, un- 
disciplined and holy ; of the day of 
judgment and the resurrection of the 
dead ; — and in the matter of policy, 
as, — that the elder son should suc- 
ceed to the inheritance. 

There is nothing said, held, or be- 
lieved, at one time and in one place, 
which is not likewise said and be- 
lieved in another, and contradicted 
and condemned elsewhere. 

The best means to maintain our- 
selves in tranquillity and liberty is to 



136 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

lend ourselves to others, but to give 
ourselves to none, and to take our 
affairs into our hands, not to place 
them in our hearts. We must know 
how to distinguish and separate our- 
selves from our public cares, our 
friends, and our neighbors ; one 
should comply with the customs of 
other men and the world, contribute 
to society those offices and duties 
requisite, but with moderation and 
discretion. A man may perform his 
duties without haste or excitement, 
and they deceive themselves very 
much who think that business is not 
well done if done without clamor 
and clatter. A wise man will serve 
and make use of the world just as he 
finds it, and he will likewise consider 
how to keep and carry himself apart 
from it. 

Enough has been said of this per- 
fect liberty of judgment wherein I 
have rather insisted, because I know 



Laws and Customs. 137 

that it does not please the palate of 
the world ; it is the enemy of pedan- 
, try, as wisdom is, but it preserves us 
from being opinionative gainsayers ; 
and a man maintaining himself in 
peaceable and assured modesty and 
noble liberty of spirit, is a fair flower 
and ornament of wisdom. 

LAWS AND CUSTOMS. 

Laws and customs are maintained 
in credit, not because they are just 
« and good, but because they are laws 
I and customs ; this is the mystical 
, foundation of their power. A wise 
man observes them freely and simply 
for public reverence, and for their 
authority. Law and custom estab- 
lish their authority differently, cus- 
i tom little by little and without force, 
\ and by the common consent of all. 
The law springs up in a moment 
; with authority and power. Seneca 
said : '' We are not led by reason, 



138 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

but misled by custom, and we hold 
that best which is most used/* 

This advice I would give to him 
who would be wise, to keep and ob- 
serve both in word and deed the laws 
and customs which he finds estab- 
lished wherever he may be, and like- 
wise to respect and obey magistrates 
and all superiors, but always with 
a noble spirit and generous manner, 
not servilely nor pedantically, and 
withal not to condemn foreign laws 
or customs, but freely and soundly 
to examine them, judging with rea- 
son only. After these two, law and 
custom, comes ceremony. A wise 
man must defend himself from this 
captivity. I do not mean that it 
should be met with a loose incivility, 
for he must forgive the world some- 
thing, and as much as he can out- 
wardly conform to that which is in 
practice, but not to enthrall himself 
with it ; and with gallant and gener- 



Honesty. 139 

: ous boldness know how to leave it, 
when he will, and in such a manner 

! that all men may know that it is not 

' from carelessness, ignorance, nor con- 
tempt, but because he would not 

, suffer his judgment to be corrupted 

: with such vanity, and that he lends 
himself to the world when it pleases 

■ him, but never gives himself. 

I 

HONESTY. 

, Honesty is the first principle of 
j wisdom. All applaud it whether 
^ truthfully or but outwardly, and con- 
: fess themselves its servants and affec- 
tionate followers. It will be difficult 
to show that true and essential 
probity we here require. Actions of 
virtue are many times nothing but 
masks, they carry the outward coun- 
tenance but have not the essence. 
Therefore to know which is the true 
honesty, we must not look at the 
outward action, that is but the sign 



140 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

and simplest token, and often a 
cloak to cover villainy ; we must 
penetrate into the inward part, and 
know the motive which causes the 
strings to vibrate, which is the soul 
and life that gives motion to all. 

There are men, honest through ac- 
cident and occasion, and not in spirit 
and truth ; it is easy to discover 
them by their want of stability, and 
by sounding them, for in one and the 
same action they will give various 
opinions. This instability proceeds 
from outward influences which easily 
move and stir them. 

The true honesty which I require 
in him who will be wise, is free, 
manly, and generous, uniform and 
consistent. Every man should be, 
or should desire to be an honest 
man, because he is a man ; and he 
who cares not to be such is a mon- 
ster. It is necessary that honesty 
should grow in man, by that inward 



Honesty. 1 4 1 

instinct which is God-given, not from 
any outward cause or inducement. 

A man desires to have all his pos- 
sessions good and sound, his body, 
judgment, and memory, even his 
hose and his shoes, and why will he 
not likewise have his will and con- 
science good ? 

What though a man does not re- 
ceive recompense for his honesty, 
what can concern him so much as his 
own character ? This is, as it were, 
not to care how bad the horse is so 
the saddle is good. If a man is 
honest for honor or reputation, from 
fear of the law or punishment, there 
is an end of his honesty. I would 
have him good, firm, and honest for 
the love of himself, because it is 
absolutely required of him by nature. 
And the pattern for honesty he will 
find in this nature itself, which is 
the universal reason that shines in 
every one of us. He that works 



142 A Treatise on Wisdom, 

according to it works truly according 
to God, for it is God, cr at least His 
fundamental law that has brought it 
into the world. God and nature are 
in the world as in a state the king, — 
the author, and founder, and the 
fundamental law for the preservation 
and government of the state. 

Nature is a ray of light from the 
Divinity, a stream and dependence 
of the eternal law which is God 
Himself and His Will. Behold in 
us, then, an essential, radical, and 
fundamental honesty, growing in us 
from its own roots, from the seed 
of that universal reason which is in 
the soul, maintaining itself strong 
and invincible, by which a man works 
according to God, nature, and the 
universal order of the world. 

** All goodness is natural, vice 
unnatural." 

True honesty is a right and firm 
disposition of the will to follow the 



Honesty. 143 

counsels of reason ; and as the mari- 
ner's needle never rests until it points 
towards the north, and thus directs 
aright, so man is never tranquil until 
he sees this and directs the course of 
his life, manners, judgment, and will 
according to the Divine natural law, 
which is an inward light whereof all 
others are but beams. To perfect 
our work we still need the grace of 
God by which life is given to hon- 
esty, goodness, and virtue. 

Honesty in the soul is like a good 
organist, whose touch is true and 
according to art ; the grace and spirit 
of God is the blast which gives life 
to the touch, and makes the instru- 
ment speak with pleasant melodies. 

This last good does not consist in 
long discourses, precepts, and in- 
structions, neither is it attained by 
our own act or labor; it is a free gift 
from above, and so we call it grace. 
But we must desire it, and ask for it 



144 ^ Treatise on Wisdom. 

both humbly and ardently. O God, 
vouchsafe of Thy infinite goodness 
to look upon me with the eye of 
Thy clemency, to accept my desire 
and my work, which Thou hast im- 
planted, to the end that it may re- 
turn to Thee, and that Thou mayst 
finish what Thou hast begun, and 
so be both my Alpha and my 
Omega. Sprinkle me with Thy 
grace, keep me and account me 
Thine. 

The true remedy by which we 
are cleansed and healed of our sin, 
is a serious and modest confession 
of our faults ; excuse is a remedy 
invented by the author of evil. 
There is a proverb which says, 
" Sin makes itself a garment, but it 
is without warmth.** 

Religion consists in the knowledge 
of God and of ourselves, and the 
office of religion is to join us to the 
Author and Giver of all good ; and 



Pieiy. 145 

so long as we continue firm in our 
confidence in God we are preserved, 
but when He is separated from us 
we faint and languish. We must 
be sincere, obedient, and kind, if we 
would be fit to receive religion, and 
to believe and live under the law. 
By reverence and obedience we 
should subject our judgment, and 
suffer ourselves to be led by author- 
ity, '' submitting our understanding 
to the obedience of faith." 

PIETY. 

Piety ranks first among our duties, 
and here it is very easy to err and 
be mistaken. It is a fearful thing 
to consider the great diversity among 
the religions that have been in the 
world, and still more the strange- 
ness of some of them, so unreason- 
able that it is a wonder the mind 
of man should have been infatuated 

with the impostures; for it seems 
10 



146 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

there is nothing in the world, high 
or low, which has not been deified, 
and that has not found a place 
wherein to be worshipped. They 
all agree in many things, are almost 
alike in their foundation and princi- 
ples : the belief in one God, the 
Author of all things. His providence 
and love toward mankind, in the im- 
mortality of the soul, reward for 
the good, punishment for the wicked 
after this life, and a certain outward 
profession, in praying, honoring, and 
serving God : they have also their 
difference, by which they are dis- 
tinguished, and each prefers itself 
above the rest, as the truest. But 
it is not difficult to know which is 
the best, the Christian religion, ele- 
vated and authentic, having so many 
advantages and privileges above the 
others. 

Now, as they appear one after 
another, we find the younger builds 



Piety, 147 

upon the more ancient, and next pre- 
cedent, which it does not wholly 
disprove or condemn, but only 
accuses it of imperfections, and 
therefore comes to perfect or suc- 
ceed it ; so by degrees the elder is 
overthrown and the younger en- 
riched with the spoils : as Judaism, 
which has retained much of the 
Egyptian religion, the Christian, 
founded upon the tenets and 
promises of the Judaic, the Turk- 
ish built upon both, retaining 
almost all the doctrines of Jesus 
Christ, but not accepting His divin- 
ity. If, therefore, a man would 
change from Judaism to Mohamme- 
danism, he must pass through Chris- 
tianity. Yet the elder wholly con- 
demn the younger and regard them 
as enemies ; although there have 
been Mohammedans that have suf- 
fered torture to maintain the truths 
of the Christian religion, as Christians 



148 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

would do to maintain the truths of 
the Old Testament. True and false 
religions are maintained by human 
means, but the true have another 
jurisdiction, and are received from 
and held by another hand. In regard 
to receiving them, the first general 
establishing of them has been, ** God 
working, His word confirming, and 
signs following/* The detail is done 
by human means ; it is the nation, 
country, and birth which give the 
particular religion ; it is not of our 
choice or election, for a man without 
his knowledge is made Jew or Chris- 
tian, before he knows that he is a man. 
The better to know true piety, 
it is necessary to separate it from 
the false and feigned. There is 
nothing that makes a fairer show and 
takes greater pains to resemble true 
religion, and yet no worse enemy to 
it, than superstition ; it is like the 
flatterer that counterfeits a zealous 



Piety, 149 

friend, or like false coin which glit- 
ters more than the true. Religion 
makes a man love and honor God, 
giving him peace and rest lodging in 
a free and liberal soul. Superstition 
troubles a man, he never feels secure ; 
fearing he has left something undone, 
he desires to appease God with vows 
and offerings ; what is it but a pun- 
ishment ? He wrongs God and would 
flee from Him, if it were possible, and 
it proceeds from a malady of the soul. 
Of the many different religions 
and manners of serving God, those 
seem to have the greatest appear- 
ance of truth that, without external 
service, draw the soul into itself and 
raise it by pure contemplation to 
adore the greatness and majesty of 
the First Cause of all things, the 
Essence of Essences, without any 
great declaration or definition of it, 
but acknowledging it without limita- 
tion to be the perfection of goodness. 



150 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

And this is to approach the religion 
of the angels, and to accept the 
teaching of the Son of God ^* to wor- 
ship in spirit and truth/* for God 
accounts such worshippers the best. 

There are others who would have a 
visible deity; and those that have 
chosen the sun for their god seem 
to have more reason than the others, 
because of its greatness, splendor, 
and unknown quality. 

It is necessary for him who intends 
to be wise not to separate piety from 
true honesty, and content himself with 
one of them, nor should he confound 
them. Piety and probity, religion 
and honesty, devotion and con- 
science, I would have jointly in him 
whom I here instruct, because one 
cannot be perfect without the other. 
Here are two rocks of which we must 
take heed : to separate these virtues 
and rest contented with one — to con- 
found them in such a way that one 



Piety. 151 

rules the other. The first who separate 
them and have but one of these vir- 
tues are those that give themselves 
to the worship and service of God, 
taking no care at all of true virtue 
and honesty for which they have no 
taste, but putting their whole confi- 
dence in the outward observance. 
Through this they are the more daring 
in sin, thinking themselves released 
from all duty ; they are never made 
better, and to them the proverb ap- 
plies, *' An Angel in the Church a 
Devil in the Home.'* There are others 
quite contrary ; taking account of 
nothing but virtue and honesty and 
caring little for anything that belongs 
to religion, a fault of many philoso- 
phers. These are two extremes, but 
which is the more worthy, religion or 
honesty, it is not my purpose to de- 
termine. I will only say : the first is 
far more easy and of greater show, 
found in simple and ignorant minds ; 



152 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

the second, more difficult, and in 
spirits valiant and generous. He 
who is honest from scruple and a re- 
ligious bridle, take heed of him, and 
he who has religion without honesty, 
I will not say he is more wicked, but 
far more dangerous than one who is 
without either. 

I desire that there be in this my 
wise man true honesty and true 
piety, joined and wedded together, 
both complete, and crowned with 
the grace of God, which He denies 
to none who ask it of Him. Our in- 
struction to piety is to learn to know 
God. For from the knowledge of 
things proceeds the honor we give 
them. First we must believe that 
He is, that He created the world by 
His power, goodness, and wisdom, 
and by these He governs it ; that 
His providence watches over all 
things, even the least ; and whatever 
He sends us is for our good, and that 



Piety. 153 

whatever is evil proceeds from our- 
selves. If we account the fortunes 
evil which He sends us we blaspheme 
His holy name, for we naturally 
honor those who do us good and 
hate those who hurt us. We must 
then resolve to obey Him and to 
take all in good part whatever comes 
from His hand, and commit and 
submit ourselves to Him. Secondly 
we must honor Him, raising our 
spirit from all earthly imagination to 
the contemplation of the Divinity. 
God is the highest ideal of our im- 
agination, every man amplifying the 
idea according to his own capacity. 
He is infinitely above our most ex- 
alted conception. Thirdly we must 
serve Him with our heart and mind, 
the service answering His nature, a 
wise man's true sacrifice to the great 
God ; the spirit is His temple, the 
soul is His image, and the affections 
man's offerings. The most accept- 



154 ^ Treatise on Wisdom, 

able service to Him is a pure, free, 
and humble heart, nevertheless we 
are not to condemn nor neglect the 
outward form, which must assist the 
other, by observing the ceremonies 
and ordinances with moderation, 
without ostentation or hypocrisy, 
and always with this thought — that 
God will be served in spirit, and 
that which is outwardly done is 
rather for ourselves and for human 
edification than for God. 

Our prayer to God should be sub- 
ject to His will ; we should neither 
desire nor ask anything but as He 
has ordained it. It is His will that 
we make ourselves fit to receive 
from Him, for it is His office being 
great to give, and man being poor 
and needy, to ask and to receive. 

REPENTANCE. 

Repentance is the universal rem- 
edy for the maladies of the soul. It 



Desires and Pleasures. 1 5 5 

is a submission and retraction of the 
will, a sorrow or grief engendered in 
us by reason, driving away all other 
sorrows that proceed from outward 
causes. True repentance is a gift of 
God, that touches our hearts, that 
must grow in us not by the weak- 
ness of the body, but by the force of 
the soul and of reason. 

The amendment which comes 
from anxiety, distaste, or feebleness 
is not true and religious. The weak- 
ness of the body is no fit Post to 
carry us to God. 

TO OOVERN DESIRES AND 
PLEASURES. 

It is the duty of a wise man to 
know how to govern his desires and 
pleasures, for to condemn all pleasure 
is not only fanatical, but unnatural 
and vicious. A man must study and 
know this life, and meditate upon it, 
to the end that he may return thanks 



156 A Treatise on Wisdam. 

to Him who gives it. There is 
nothing which God has given us in 
this present life unworthy our care, 
and for which we are not account- 
able. It is no frivolous commission 
for a man to direct himself and his 
life, for God has given it to him 
seriously and expressly. There are 
those, who would seem to be men 
of understanding, and professors of 
singular sanctity, who condemn all 
pleasures, and all care of the body, 
who withdraw the spirit into itself, 
and so pass life insensibly without 
thinking or taking part in it. To this 
kind of people, the saying, " to pass 
the time " is very applicable ; for it 
seems to them that to make good 
use of this life is to silently pass it 
over, and as it were to escape it. 

Contempt for all pleasures is as 
much a fault and an injustice as the 
abuse of them in loving them too 
much. We must neither run to them 



Desires and Pleasures, 1 57 

nor fly from them, but receive and 
use them with discretion and moder- 
ation. 

He who desires nothing, although 
he has nothing, is as rich as he who 
possesses the whole world ; both 
come to one end. 

He who is poor in desires is rich 
in contentment. 

If we let loose the bridle of our 
appetite to follow abundance and 
luxury, we will continue in perpetual 
pain and labor ; superfluous things 
will become necessary, our souls will 
be slaves to our bodies, and we can 
live only while we live in pleasure 
and delight. 

If we do not moderate our pleas- 
ures and desires, if we do not 
measure them by the compass of 
reason, opinion will carry us to a 
headlong downfall, where there is 
neither bottom nor stay. As for 
example : if we make our shoes of 



158 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

velvet, afterwards we will want them 
of cloth of gold, and lastly embroid- 
ered with pearls and diamonds ; we 
will build our houses of marble, 
afterwards of jasper and porphyry. 
With a fool nothing suffices, nothing 
has certainty or contentment ; he 
is like the moon that asked for a 
garment that might fit it, but was 
answered that that was not pos- 
sible, because it was sometimes large, 
sometimes small, and always change- 
able. 

CONSIDERATION OF OTHERS. 

Peremptory affirmation and obsti- 
nacy in expressing opinions are 
ordinary signs of senselessness and 
ignorance. The style of the ancient 
Roman was, that in the witness de- 
posing and the judge determining 
that which of their own knowledge 
they knew to be true, they expressed 
themselves in these words : '* It 
seemeth.** It is good to learn to use 



Maris Own Affairs. 159 

words that sweeten and moderate 
the temerity of our propositions, as: 
It may be; I think; It is so said. It 
is well for a man to have his counte- 
nance and actions agreeable to all, 
but his thoughts hidden ; to see and 
hear much, speak little, judge of all. 

Do not fear nor be troubled with 
the rude incivility and bitter speeches 
of men ; learn to harden and accus- 
tom yourself to them. 

Aim always at the truth, to ac- 
knowledge it, and cheerfully yield 
to it. 

To acknowledge a fault, to confess 
ignorance, to yield when there is 
occasion, are acts of judgment, 
gentleness, and sincerity, which are 
the principal qualities of an honest 
and wise man. 

MAN'S OWN AFFAIRS. 

When a man finds himself in any 
doubt or perplexity respecting a 



1 6o A Treatise on Wisdom, 

choice of things that are not evil, he 
must choose that which has most 
honesty and justice in it, for though 
it may turn out otherwise than well, 
it will always be some comfort to 
have chosen the better part ; and be- 
sides, he does not know if he had 
chosen the contrary what would 
have happened. 

When a man is in doubt as to the 
best and shortest way, he must take 
the straightest. 

Avoid that which is base and un- 
just ; this is the rule of conscience. 

Never deceive, and yet take heed 
not to be deceived. 

Defend opinions, but do not of- 
fend. Subtle defence is as much to 
be commended as rude offence is to 
be condemned. Take all things in 
their proper time and season ; avoid 
precipitation, an enemy to wisdom, 
the step-mother, not the true, of all 
good actions. 



To be Ready for Death. 1 6 1 

Deliberate slowly, execute speed- 
ily. 

Discretion seasons and gives a rel- 
ish to all things. 

Indiscretion mars and takes away 
the grace from the best actions. 

TO BE READY FOR DEATH, A FRUIT 
OF WISDOM. 

Seneca said : ^' He was not born 
in vain that dies well ; neither has 
he lived unprofitably, that departs 
happily.'* 

He shoots not well who looks not 
on the mark; and he cannot live 
well who has not an eye to his 
death. The science of dying is the 
science of liberty, the way to fear 
nothing, to live well, contentedly 
and peaceably ; there can be no 
pleasure in life to him who is al- 
ways in fear of loss. We must en- 
deavor to have our sins die before 
ourselves ; and be always prepared 

for death. 
II 



1 62 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

What an excellent thing it is for 
a man to end his life before his 
death in such a way that in that 
hour he has nothing to do, that he 
has no more need of time, but 
sweetly and contentedly may depart 
this life, saying '* I have finished my 
course/' 

He who would judge of the life of 
a man must see how he carries him- 
self at his death, for the end crowns 
the work. A man may be masked 
in his life, but in this last part it is 
useless to dissemble. 

** Then only, only then, and then no doubt, 
Do men unmask, and now the truth comes out." 

For a man to torment himself 
with the fear of death is a great 
weakness and cowardliness. What 
use is there of wisdom and constancy 
in man, to what end do they serve, 
if they speed him not in good ac- 
tions, if he can do no more by their 



To be Ready for Death, 163 

help than a fool with his folly. It is 
misery to trouble life with the care 
and fear of death, and death with 
the care of life. It is uncertain in 
what place death attends us, and 
therefore let us attend death in all 
places, and be ready to receive it. 

* * Think every day thy last ; each, ready be, 
And so the uncertain hour shall welcome thee." 

Many make vain excuses to cover 
this fear, as, for example, those who 
say they grieve for themselves and 
others that they may be cut off in 
the flower and strength of their years. 
This is the complaint of those who 
measure everything by the ell, for- 
getting that exquisite things are 
generally fine and delicate. It is 
the mark of an excellent workman 
to enclose much in a small space. 

Great virtue and a long life sel- 
dom meet together. Life is meas- 
ured by the end ; provided that is 



164 A Treatise on Wisdom, 

good and all the rest is in proportion, 
the quantity has nothing to do with 
making it more or less happy, any 
more than the greatness of a circle 
makes the circle more round. 

"The day which thou fearest as 
thy last is the birthday of eternity/' 

To seek and desire death is an 
evil, it is an injustice without a 
cause, and it is to be out of charity 
with the world, to which our lives 
may be of benefit. To fear death, 
on the other side, is against nature, 
reason, justice, and all duty ; the 
day of thy birth binds thee, and 
sets thee as well in the way of death 
as of life. 

It is folly to grieve for that which 
cannot be mended, to fear that which 
cannot be avoided. 

How excellent the example of 
David, after the death of his dear 
child, when he put on his best ap- 
parel and made merry, saying to 



7!:? be Ready for Death. 165 

those who wondered, that while his 
son lived he importuned God for his 
recovery, but being dead there was 
no remedy. 

He who fears not to die, fears 
nothing ; he makes himself master 
of his own life and of others. 

The disregard of death is the source 
of beautiful and generous actions, 
and from it come the free speeches 
of virtue uttered by so many great 
men. Helvidius Priscus, whom the 
Emperor Vespasian had commanded 
not to go to the Senate, but if he 
went, to speak as he would have 
him, answered that, as he was a 
Senator, it was right he should be in 
the Senate, and being there if re« 
quired to give advice he should 
speak freely that which his con- 
science commanded. Being threat- 
ened by the Emperor that if he 
spoke he should die, he said, ** Did 
I ever tell you that I was immortal? 



1 66 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

Do what you will, and I will do 
what I ought. It is in your power 
to put me unjustly to death, and it is 
in mine to die consistently/* 

Our religion has no firmer princi- 
ple, nor one wherein its Author has 
more insisted, than the contempt of 
this life. 

A desire for the life to come 
makes a man thirst after death as 
after a great gain, as the seed of a 
better life, the bridge unto Paradise, 
the way to all good, and an earnest 
of the resurrection. A firm belief 
and hope in these things is incom- 
patible with the fear and horror of 
death. 

'* Have patience, man, and be content to live, 
That which a day denies, a day may give." 

TRANQUILLITY OF THE SPIRIT. 

Tranquillity of the spirit is the 
sovereign good of man. This is that 
great and rich treasure which the 



Tranqtiillity of the Spirit. 167 

wisest seek by sea and land. All 
our care should tend thereto ; it is 
the fruit of all our labors and studies, 
and the crown of wisdom. It is a 
beautiful, equal, just, firm, and 
pleasant condition of the soul, which 
neither business, idleness, good nor 
ill, nor time, can in any way trouble 
or depress. '^ Nothing troubles true 
tranquillity r The foundations a man 
must lay for it are true honesty, and 
to live in the state and vocation for 
which he is fitted, and added to these, 
true piety, with a soul pure, free, 
kind, contemplating God, the great 
Sovereign, and absolute Workmaster 
of all things ; and from Whom he is 
to hope for all manner of good, and 
to fear no evil. Afterwards he must 
walk in simplicity and truth, and 
with a heart open to the eyes of God 
and the world ; he must in thought, 
word, and action keep himself in 
moderation, laying aside all pomp 



1 68 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

and vanity ; rule his desires, content 
himself with a sufficiency. He must 
be constant against what may wound 
or hurt him, and raise himself above 
and beyond all fear, and so hold 
himself firmly without inward con- 
tention, full of joy, peace, comfort, 
and content in himself. 

To conclude. Two things are 
necessary for this tranquillity of the 
spirit — innocence and a good con- 
science. 

MORAL VIRTUES. 

Almost all the duties of life are 
comprehended in the four moral 
virtues. Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, 
and Temperance. Prudence is with 
reason put in the first rank, as the 
superintendent and guide of all other 
virtues ; it is the salt of life, the lustre 
and ornament of our actions. 

It is the knowledge and choice of 
those things which we must either 



Moral Virtues. 169 

desire or avoid ; it is the just estima- 
tion and trial of things ; it is the eye 
that sees and directs, and consists in 
three things — to deliberate, judge, 
and execute well. Though the seed 
of prudence, as of other virtues, is 
in our nature, yet it may be acquired 
more than any other, in some meas- 
ure by precept, but principally by 
experience and practice. There is 
an ordinary prudence, which follows 
the lav/s, customs, and rules already 
established ; there is an individual 
prudence, whereby a man is wise and 
takes counsel of himself ; and a bor- 
rowed prudence, which follows the 
counsel of another. They that know 
neither how to give nor take counsel 
are fools. 

" Strength void of counsel falls to 
ruin even of itself, one wise mind 
overcomes the hands of many, and 
many things that are hindered by 
nature are hastened by counsel.'' 



1 70 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

JUSTICE. 

The summary of all justice is con- 
tained in the commandment, ** Thou 
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," 
which does not only set down the 
duty of man towards others, but 
shows the duty and love he owes 
himself. Before a man can well 
command others, he must learn to 
command himself, yielding to reason, 
the authority. 

Resolve not to live carelessly, after 
an uncertain fashion, as so many do, 
only living from day to day, and not 
taking life earnestly or seriously. 
They taste not, they possess not, 
they enjoy not their life ; they live, 
as it were, insensibly, and to them 
life is only a term. 

Not to enjoy life is treason against 
a man's self. A man must order his 
life as if it were a bargain made 
whereof he must give an exact 
account. The greatest wisdom is 



y^istice. 171 

for a man to learn to live alone, and 
at his ease, neither seeking nor dis- 
daining the company of other men, 
but having that within himself 
wherewith to find entertainment, 
which comes not from vanity, but 
from profound study and delightful 
culture. To many, life is a procras- 
tination ; they employ it in vain 
speculations. They deliberate, hesi- 
tating like those who put off buying 
and selling until the market is closed, 
and when they see their folly they 
complain. While they are in doubt, 
life passes away. Zenon said ^^ we 
have not need of anything so 
much as time.'* For life is short, 
and art is long ; not the art to 
heal, but rather to live, which is 
wisdom. 

Let not the present moment escape 
you unemployed, for of the next 
who can assure you ? 

He who sows does not know who 



172 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

may reap, but he who reaps need not 
care who were the sowers. 

LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP. 

Friendship is the life of the world. 
Without it there is no joy, and all 
things seem dark. " Friendship is 
the companion of justice, the bond 
of nature, . . . the comfort of 
old age, and the quiet harbor of 
man's Hfe.*' 

If friendship were everywhere in 
force, there would be no need of 
law, which is a remedy for the 
want of it, enforcing and constrain- 
ing by authority that which for love 
and friendship should be free and 
voluntary. 

Friendship rules the heart, the 
tongue, the hand, and the will. 

There is great diversity in friend- 
ships from the causes which engender 
them, and these are four in number — 
Nature, Virtue, Profit, and Pleasure, 



Love and Friendship. 1 73 

which sometimes go together and 
sometimes separately. 

Of these foundations for friend- 
ship virtue is the strongest and 
noblest, for it is spiritual and in the 
heart as friendship is ; while nature 
is in the blood, profit in the purse, 
pleasure in the senses. He who 
loves for virtue is never weary of 
loving, and if friendship is broken 
complains not. He who loves for 
profit, if friendship fails, murmurs, 
and it ends in reproach. He who 
loves for pleasure, when that ceases 
his love dies with it, and without 
complaint he estranges himself. 

Another distinction in friendship, 
regards its strength and intention, 
from which arise the common and 
the perfect. The common is attained 
and grows by various profitable and 
delightful occasions and incidents, 
and there are two ways to obtain it : 
to speak pleasantly, and to do profit- 



1 74 ^ Treatise on Wisdom. 

able things. The perfect is acquired 
only by a true lively virtue, recipro- 
cally known. The common may be 
between many, the perfect only be- 
tween two. 

There is nothing more free and 
voluntary than affection, built upon 
the choice and liberty of the will. 
The souls of men in this perfect 
friendship cannot be divided ; neither 
would they be. There is no speech 
between them of indebtedness, 
thankfulness, and other light duties, 
which are nourishers of common 
friendship, and yet testimonies of 
division. Should I thank myself for 
the service I render myself ? He is 
the giver that gives cause to his 
friend to express and employ his 
love ; and he is the receiver that by 
giving binds his friend : for both 
seeking above all things to do good 
one to the other, he that gives the 
occasion and yields the matter is he 



Lave and Friendship. 1 75 

that is liberal, giving the content- 
ment to his friend to do what he 
most desires. 

Of this perfect friendship and com- 
munion, antiquity gives us some ex- 
amples. Blosius, taken for a great 
friend of Tiberius Gracchus, then 
condemned to die, being asked what 
he would do for his friend's sake, 
answered he would refuse nothing. 
It was then demanded what he would 
do if Gracchus should entreat him to 
fire the temples, to which he replied 
that Gracchus would never ask such 
a thing at his hands, but, if he did, 
he would obey him — a bold and dan- 
gerous answer. 

laving said that Gracchus would 
never require it, that should have 
been his answer, for according to our 
description a perfect friend does not 
only know the will of his friend, but 
holds it in his sleeve, and wholly 
possesses it. 



iy6 A Treatise on Wisdom, 

Free and hearty admonition is a 
very wholesome and exc_ellent medi- 
cine, and the best office of friend- 
ship ; for to wound and offend a 
little, to profit much, is to love 
soundly. This is one of the princi- 
pal and most profitable evangelical 
commandments : '* If thy brother sin 
against thee, reprove him/' All have 
some need of this remedy, but espe- 
cially those in prosperity. To under- 
take this, four things are required: 
judgment, discretion, courageous 
liberty, and loyal friendship; these 
are tempered and mingled together, 
but for fear of offending, or for want 
of true friendship, few are willing to 
do it, and of those who are, how few 
know how to do it well. 

If it is not done well it is like 
medicine badly administered, it hurts 
without profit. Truth, however noble 
it is, has not the privilege of being 
used at all hours and in all places. 



Fidelity. 177 

Observe the time and place, not 
choosing an occasion of feasting or 
great joy, for that were to ** trouble 
the feast''; nor one of sorrow and 
adversity, that is the time to com- 
fort, " Chiding is cruel in adversity ; 
to chide is to condemn when help is 
needful." Admonish secretly and 
without witnesses, that one may not 
be overcome with shame, especially 
before those whose good opinion one 
may desire to retain. 

FIDELITY. 

All men, even the most treacher- 
ous, know and confess that fidelity is 
I the bond of human society, the foun- 
{ dation of all justice, and above all 
I things to be religiously observed. 
j Nevertheless the world is full of 
I treachery ; there are but few who are 
; truly loyal and keep their faith ; 
they break it in various ways, per- 
haps without perceiving it. They 
12 



1 78 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

find some pretext for what they do ; 
seek corners, evasions, and subtilties. 

Confidence is a sacred thing, and 
must simply be received ; when hos- 
tages are demanded or sureties given, 
it is no more faith nor trust. Do 
not think to give assurance of fidelity 
by new and strange oaths and the 
use of God's name, as many do. 
This is superfluous among honest 
men, and the breach includes per- 
jury, which is worse than treachery. 

Treachery and perjury are in a cer- 
tain sense more base and execrable 
than atheism. The atheist who 
believes there is no God is not as 
hurtful in thinking there is no God 
as he who believes in Him and in 
mockery and contempt abuses His 
name. Treachery is the capital 
enemy of human society, for it 
breaks and destroys the bands there- 
of, and of all commerce that depends 
upon the word and promises of men, 



Flattery, 1 79 

for these failing us we have nothing 
else to rely upon. 

FLATTERV. 

Flattery is a very dangerous poi- 
son, and if a man is once corrupted 
by flattery, it necessarily follows that 
all who are about him, if they would 
live in peace and favor, must be flat- 
terers. It is as pernicious as truth 
is excellent, for it is the corruption 
of truth. It is also the despicable 
vice of a base, beggarly mind, as ill 
becoming a man as imprudence a 
woman. 

Flattery is hard to be avoided — it 
is sweet even to the wisest, so that 
though a man withstands it, it 
pleases, and though he opposes it, 
•he never quite shuts it out-of-doors ; 
and it is no easy matter to distin- 
guish it, so v/ell is it counterfeited 
andcovered with the visage of friend- 
ship. 



1 80 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

A flatterer will seem to exceed in 
love him whom he flatters, whereas 
there is nothing more opposite to 
love, — not detraction, injury, nor pro- 
fessed enmity. It is the plague and 
poison of true friendship. Better 
are the sharp admonitions of a friend 
than the kisses of a flatterer. 

Flattery regards for the most part 
its own particular benefit ; true friend- 
ship seeks not the good of self. 

A flatterer is changeable, like a 
chameleon, and he will accommodate 
himself to the minds of those he flat- 
ters. A friend is firm and constant, 
and cares not so much how he may 
please as how he may benefit. 

LYING. 

Near neighbor to flattery is lying, 
a base vice. The first step in the 
corruption of good manners is the 
banishment of truth. Silence is more 
friendly than untrue speech. 



Benefits. i8i 

If a lie had but one visage, as truth 
has, there would be some remedy 
for it, for then we could take the 
exact contrary of that which the liar 
speaks to be the certain truth. 

But the contrary to truth has a 
thousand forms, and an unlimited 
field. There is but one way to hit 
the mark, but there are a thousand 
ways to miss it. Doubtless if men 
realized the horror of lying they 
would pursue it with fire and sword ; 
for like opinionative obstinacy it 
never leaves off growing. It be- 
hooves a liar to have a good memory. 

A man must not tell all he knows, 
that is folly ; but that which he 
speaks, let it be what he believes. 

" Report is never brought to full 
trial." 

BENEFITS. 

It is in the thankful acknowledg- 
ment of obligations and benefits that 



1 82 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

we fail most. We neither know how 
to do good, nor to be thankful. 

It is the work of an honest and 
generous man to do good and to 
deserve well of another, and also 
to seek the opportunity to do so. 

" It is the part of a liberal man 
even to seek occasions for giving.** 
(Ambrose.) 

God, nature, and reason invite us, 
and in nothing can we come nearer 
to the nature of Giod than in doing 
good. Neither do we know any bet- 
ter means to imitate Him, whose 
example and nature are wholly 
good. 

He who gives, honors himself, and 
makes himself master over the re- 
ceiver. He who takes, sells himself. 
Many have refused to receive bene- 
fits lest they should lose their liberty, 
especially from those whom they 
could not love. 

Caesar was wont to say : *' There 



Benefits. 183 

comes no sound more pleasing to 
my ears than prayers and petitions/* 

It is the word of the Almighty : 
" Ask me ; call upon me in the day of 
tribulation, and I will deliver thee." 

It is a most noble and honorable 
use of our means to employ them 
for the good and comfort of others. 
As long as we hold them privately 
they bear the ignoble names — 
houses, lands, money ; but brought 
into light for the good of others 
they are ennobled with new and 
glorious titles, as Beneficence, Lib- 
erality, Magnanimity ; it is the best 
use that can be made of them, 
whereby the principal is assured and 
the profit very great. 

How shall a man bestow his boun- 
ty, and to whom shall he give ? It 
seems that to do good to the wicked 
and unworthy is a fault, for it brings 
an ill name to the giver, kindles 
malice, and gives to vice also, that 



184 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

which belongs to virtue and merit. 
Doubtless, free and gracious gifts 
are due only to the good and wor- 
thy, but in a time of necessity or of 
common benefit it is better to do 
good to those who are unworthy, 
for the sake of the good, than to 
deprive the good on account of the 
evil. God lets the sun to shine, and 
the rain to fall, alike upon all. 
" There is a great difference between 
not excluding and choosing.'* 

Give willingly and cheerfully, not 
\ suffering one*s self to be entreated and 

importuned. ** God loveth a cheer- 
ful giver.** 

Benefits are esteemed according to 
the will with which they are be- 
stowed. That which is yielded by 
entreaty is sold dearly, 

Give speedily. '' He gives twice 
who gives quickly.** 

An indifferent and careless regard 
when help is given is not kind ; a 



Benefits. 185 

readiness in giving doubles the 
benefit. 

Diligence must be used in all 
points ; to refuse to do a good deed, 
and that slowly, is a double injury. 

* He is less deceived who is soon 
denied.'* 

The best way to give is to antici- 
pate, and prevent the necessity for 
asking. 

He who entreats humbles himself. 

Give without hope of restitution ; 
in this lies the force and virtue of a 
benefit, for while a Than seeks after 
payment, he is deprived of that in- 
ward joy and comfort, which he 
receives in doing good. 

A gift has its true lustre and glory 
when there is no chance for requital, 
even ignorance from whence it came. 

He deserves nothing who does 
good that he may receive something 
in return. It is said a benefactor 
must forget his good deeds. He 



1 86 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

must continue them and by new 
ones confirm the old ; never repent- 
ing, however it may seem that the 
seed has been cast upon barren and 
unfruitful ground. '* Let even the 
ill success of thy good deeds please 
thee." 

An unthankful man wrongs none 
but himself, and a good deed is not 
lost by ingratitude. 

"The best men, and generous 

minds will bear with an ungrateful 

person, until with their goodness they 

\ shall make him grateful ; persevering 

goodness overcometh the evil.'* 

How base a vice is ingratitude ; it 
is odious to all men. " Thou speak- 
est of all evil that can be said when 
thou namest an ungrateful man.'* 
In revenge there is some show of 
justice, and man does not hide him- 
self to work his will, but in ingrati- 
tude there is nothing but base 
dishonesty and shame. 



Benefits. 187 

Thankfulness or acknowledgment 
must have these conditions : 

First : The benefit should be gra- 
ciously received. " He who receives 
the benefit thankfully discharges the 
first payment/* (Seneca.) 

Secondly : It should never be for- 
gotten. ** He who forgets a benefit 
is of all others the most ungrateful, 
for in no respect can he be made 
thankful who forgets a service/' 
(Pliny.) 

Thirdly : It should be spoken of. 

As a man has found the heart and 
hand of another open to do him good, 
so must he have his mouth open to 
publish it. 

And fourthly : Restitution should 
be made. But beware of too great 
an unwillingness to be in debt, or 
too much haste to cancel the obliga- 
tion. It gives occasion to the friend 
or benefactor to think his courtesy 
was not kindly accepted ; for to be 



1 88 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

too careful to pay incurs the sus- 
picion of ingratitude ; yet be not too 
long, lest the benefit grows old ; the 
Graces are painted young. Choose 
a proper occasion without noise or 
display. And lastly, if a man's in- 
ability be such that he cannot make 
present restitution, let his will be 
strong enough to acknowledge the 
benefit. 

DUTY. 

The duty of the great consists in 
two things : in endeavoring to use 
their lives and ability for the defence 
and conservation of piety, justice, 
and generally for the welfare and 
good of the commonwealth, of which 
they ought to be the pillars and sup- 
porters ; and after this in defending 
and protecting the poor and op- 
pressed, and in resisting the violence 
of the wicked. In this manner Moses 
became the head of the Jewish nation, 



Valor. 189 

undertaking the defence of men in- 
jured and unjustly oppressed. Those 
that have done Hkewise have been 
called heroes, and for such, the de- 
fenders of their people, the deliver- 
ers of the oppressed, all honors have 
been established from ancient times. 

It is not greatness for men to 
make themselves feared, except by 
their enemies, or to terrify, which 
sometimes produces hate. It is bet- 
ter to be beloved. 

The duty of inferiors towards their 
superiors consists in honoring and 
reverencing those whom they serve, 
not only outwardly but with love 
and affection if it is deserved, and in 
pleasing by faithfully performing 
their duties, proving themselves 
worthy of protection. 

VALOR. 

Valor is a right and strong determi- 
nation, a uniform steadiness of mind 



190 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

against all dangerous, difficult, and 
melancholy accidents ; in short, diffi- 
culty and danger bring it into play, 
and all that human weakness fears. 

Of all the virtues it is held in the 
highest estimation. It contains mag- 
nanimity, patience, constancy, in- 
vincible resolution, heroic qualities ; 
it is an impregnable bulwark, a com- 
plete armor. 

*' An invincible fortress of human 
weakness, that whosoever arms him- 
self with it, continues secure in this 
siege of life.*' (Seneca.) 

Valor presupposes knowledge of 
the danger and difficulty of an enter- 
prise, as well as of its beauty, justice, 
and obligation, and they are de- 
ceived who think it an inconsiderate 
temerity or senseless stupidity. 

Virtue cannot be without knowl- 
edge and apprehension ; a man can- 
not truly condemn the danger which 
he does not know. 



Valor. 1 9 1 

Valor is not a quality of the body- 
but of the mind. A settled strength 
not of the arms and legs, but of the 
courage. The valor of a man is in 
his heart and will, and he whose 
courage fails not for any fear of 
death, though he fall he is not van- 
quished, but by fortune. 

They who attribute valor to sub- 
tlety and craft, or to art and industry, 
profane it. The Lacedaemonians 
permitted no fencers or master- 
wrestlers in their cities, that their 
youth might be trained by nature, 
not by art. We account it a bold 
and hardy thing to fight a lion, a 
bear, or a wild boar, which encounter 
a man only according to nature ; but 
not so to fight with wasps, for they 
use subtlety. Alexander would not 
contend in the Olympic games, say- 
ing there was no equality, because a 
private might overcome and a king 
be vanquished. Moreover, it is not 



192 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

fitting for a man of honor to venture 
his valor where a base fellow in- 
structed by rules might gain the 
prize ; for such victory comes not 
from virtue, or courage, but from 
certain artificial tricks and inven- 
tions, in which the base will do that 
which a valiant man knows not, 
neither desires to. 

FORTITUDE. 

The virtue fortitude is exercised 
and employed against all that the 
Vorld accounts evil, as adversity, 
affliction, injury, unhappiness, and 
accidents. Fortitude arms a man 
against them and temperance guides 
him. 

Evils are general or particular con- 
cerning the mass or only ourselves. 

In common evils or misfortunes 
one should consider from whence 
they come and note the cause. 

A man must not murmur against 



Fortitude. 193 

the will of God ; it is impiety, and he 
torments himself to no purpose. 

There is no better remedy for the 
ills of destiny than to apply our wills 
to His will, and according to the 
advice of wisdom make a virtue of 
necessity. 

The advice we would give against 
personal evils, or wrongs that may 
be done to one by others, is to be 
firm and resolute ; not suffering 
one's self to be led by common opin- 
ion, but without passion to consider 
of what weight and importance things 
are according to truth and reason. 

How many make less account of a 
great wound than of a little blow ? To 
be brief, all is measured by opinion. 

The world suffers itself to be per- 
suaded and led by impressions, and 
an opinion may offend more than a 
wrong done, and our impatience hurt 
us more than those of whom we 
complain. 
13 



194 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

We must take heed to do nothing 
unworthy and unbefitting ourselves 
that may give another an advantage 
over us ; an unwise man who dis- 
trusts himself and goes into a passion 
without cause encourages another to 
oppose him. It is a weakness of the 
mind not to overlook an offence. 

A stronghold against all such ac- 
cidents is that we can receive no evil 
but from ourselves, and if our judg- 
ment is as it should be we are invul- 
nerable. 

Respecting those who offend us, if 
we hold them vain and unwise, we 
should treat them accordingly, and 
so leave them ; if otherwise, we 
should excuse them, and think they 
may have had occasion for what they 
have done, and that it is not from 
malice, but misunderstanding or neg- 
ligence. 

Moreover, let us make use of the 
injury done us ; first profiting by the 



Public Reproach. .195 

offenders, who gave us occasion to 
know those who would wrong us, that 
we may avoid them in the future ; 
and secondly, by seeing our weak- 
ness and how we may be ourselves 
defeated, and a way to amend our 
faults. What better revenge can a 
man take than to profit by injuries 
received from an enemy, and thereby 
better and more securely to manage 
his affairs ? 

PUBLIC REPROACH. 

This affliction is of various kinds. 
If it is loss of honors and dignities 
it is rather a gain than a loss. Dig- 
nities are but honorable servitude, 
where a man by giving himself to 
the public is deprived of himself. 
Honors are but the torches of envy 
and jealousy, and in the end exile 
and poverty. If a man recalls the 
history of the past he will find that 
rnany who have carried themselves 



\ 



1 96 A Treatise on Wisdom, 

worthily and virtuously have ended 
their lives in exile or some violent 
death ; so much so that such a fate 
would seem the livery of the most 
honest men, for it is the ordinary 
recompense for public service. A 
generous spirit should despise such 
public disfavor, for he dishonors him- 
self and shows how little he has 
profited in the study of wisdom, if 
he regards the reports or speeches 
of the people be they good or evil. 

REVENGE. 

Against the cruel passion revenge, 
we must remember there is nothing 
so honorable as to know how to par- 
don. Every man may prosecute the 
law to right the wrong he has re- 
ceived, but to be gracious and forgive 
belongs to a prince. If thou wilt be 
a king of kings and do an act that 
becomes a sovereign, be generous 
towards him who has offended. 



Revenge. 197 

There is no reason that a man 
should be a judge and plaintiff too, 
as he that revenges himself is ; he 
must commit the matter to a third 
person, or at least take counsel of 
the wise. Jupiter might alone dart 
out his favorite lightnings, but when 
there was a question of sending forth 
his avenging thunderbolts he could 
not do it without the counsel and 
assistance of the twelve gods. Was 
it not strange that the greatest of 
the gods, who of himself had power 
to do good to the whole world, 
could not hurt one person, until 
after solemn deliberation ? The wis- 
dom of Jupiter himself fears to err, 
where there is a question of re- 
venge, and therefore he has need of 
counsel. 

Let us arm ourselves with pa- 
tience, and be persuaded that we 
cannot be offended but with our- 
selves, that from the wrongs of 



198 A Treatise on Wisdom. 

another nothing remains in us but 
that which we retain. 

Forgiveness wins for us affection. 

Many things wise men do as men, 
but not as wise men. 

Beauty is as wisdom, and wisdom 
is a spiritual beauty. 

NobiHty is a desire for virtue, and 
learning the riches of the spirit. 

''' Like apples of gold in pictures 
of silver, so are words spoken in due 
season.'* (Proverb.) 

A wise man is a skilful artificer 
who profits by all ; whatever falls 
into his hands he makes a fit subject 
for good, and with the same counte- 
nance he beholds the two faces of 
fortune. 

Wisdom is a mild and regular 
managing of the soul, and he is wise 
who governs himself in his desires, 
thoughts, opinions, speech, and ac- 
tions by the rule of judgment. 



Revenge, 1 99 

A wise man rules himself accord- 
ing to nature and reason, regards his 
duty, and suspects whatever depends 
upon opinion and passion ; and so he 
lives in peace, passing away his life 
cheerfully, and not subject to re- 
pentance, recantations, or changes, 
because whatever may happen he 
could not have chosen better, and in 
this way he is neither provoked nor 
troubled, for reason is always tran- 
quil. 



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